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Somali pirates seize 7 fishermen off Seychelles
[Arab News] Somali pirates have seized a Seychelles fishing vessel with seven crew members near the Indian Ocean island nation, and are being pursued by its coasties, a Seychelles minister said in a statement on Saturday."A 33-foot fishing vessel called Faith has been hijacked by Somali pirates approximately 240 nautical miles north of Mahe," said the Indian Ocean island nation's Minister for Home Affairs, Environment, Transport and Energy, Joel Morgan. Mahe is the largest Seychelles island. Morgan said the waters where the incident took place were within the exclusive economic zone around the Seychelles coast. The men were captured while fishing for sea cucumbers on Friday. The pirates were heading northwest toward Somalia. Rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia has made it the world's most dangerous shipping lane, earned sea bandidos tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and raised insurance premiums for ships. Pirates have been casting their nets further offshore, spreading southeast toward Seychelles and east in the direction of India. Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles and Tanzania are bearing the brunt of piracy and have said they are ready to prosecute pirates jugged by international naval forces patrolling east Africa. Posted by: Fred 2010-11-21 |
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