Russian Navy


Pirates wounded shipmaster of Thai Union 3


11/06/2009 
Somali pirates shot the shipmaster of hijacked vessel Thai Union 3, said Reuters today.

The captain got gunshot wound while showing resistance during the hijacking. Captors say he had a pistol. According to them, now he is out of danger in Somali hospital.

Shipowner of Thai Union 3 decided to finish up contacts with media despite protests of Russian party, informed Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Maritime Bulletin. News of negotiations will unlikely be regular now, he added.

Thai tunaboat Thai Union 3 currently staying at one of pirate bases in Somali port Haradhere was hijacked on Oct 29 in Indian Ocean 370 km north Seychelles. There are 23 Russians aboard, all are residents of Kaliningrad. Apart of them, there are 2 Filipinos and 2 Ghanaians among the crew. It was previously reported that pirates were awaiting "skilled negotiator" to start talks with the shipowner.

As of October 20, there were 324 pirate assaults on civil vessels over the world in 2009. Pirates hijacked 37 ships and held 639 hostages. During the same period of 2008, these figures were 194, 36 and 631 correspondingly.

174 out of 324 pirate attacks were mounted in the Gulf of Aden and near Somali east coast. 35 vessels were captured and 587 crewmembers were held hostages there.

About 20 000 ships yearly pass through the Gulf of Aden.

That was the information of International Maritime Bureau, Lloyd's Register and Ecoterra International.

Source: RusNavy.com

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