Russians are on board hijacked tanker St. James Park

29.12.2009
Three Russians are on board chemical tanker St. James Park captured by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Dec 28, informs the website of EU NAVFOR anti-piracy force.

Except Russians, the ship's crew includes 2 Ukrainians, 3 Filipinos, 1 Georgian, 2 Romanians, 5 Bulgarians, 1 Polish, 6 Indians and 3 Turks.

British-flagged vessel St. James Park sent distress signal on Monday; after that the crew of CTF-151 ship from international anti-piracy force managed to communicate with the tanker and reported of hijacking. Currently, St. James Park heads for Somali coast.

Since Dec 2008 till Dec 2010 EU NAVFOR antipiracy fleet conducts Operation Atalanta at the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and part of Indian Ocean; up to 12 ships and naval aviation of EU countries are simultaneously deployed there. Nowadays, naval units of Italy, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece and some non-EU countries like Norway are involved in the operation. Participants of Atalanta are authorized to search, arrest and extradite pirates to EU member countries or Kenya.

At present, pirates hold 9 vessels including tunaboat Thai Union 3 with 23 Russians aboard, informs Reuters. According to International Maritime Bureau, since Jan 1 till Oct 20, 2009 there were 324 pirate attacks worldwide, 36 vessels were captured and 631 men held hostages. During same period of 2008, those numbers were 194, 36 and 631 correspondingly. In the Gulf of Aden and east coast Somalia since Jan 1 till Oct 20, 2009 174 attacks occurred, 35 vessels were hijacked and 587 men held hostages. Anti-piracy watch at the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and part of Indian Ocean is kept by Russian, American, European and Asian ships.

Source: RusNavy.com, photo: chemical tanker St. James Park (media.shipspotting.com)