S. Korean fishing vessel safe after hijack fears

A South Korean fishing vessel and all crew members on board were found to be safe after contact was re-established with the vessel, a maritime official said on Saturday.

"The vessel is safe," Xinhua news agency quoted John Steed, the regional manager of non-profit group Oceans Beyond Piracy, said here after the organisation got in touch with the vessel.

Steed said earlier that the ship lost contact after sending a message that they were being chased by suspected Somalian pirates on Saturday.

"We received a call from fishing vessel named Seo Hyun 389 that they were being chased by suspicious pirates in Position 0630N 06100E," Steed said.

South Korean's naval contingent, the Cheonghae Unit, was reportedly deployed to the site after the ship carrying both South Korean and foreign crew members went out of contact.

The fishing vessel which was registered in Mongolia and owned by an ethnic Korean businessman living in South Africa, has three Koreans and 18 Indonesians on board.

Demanding millions of dollars in ransom for captured ships and their crews, Somali pirates had intensified operations between 2008 to 2011 not just off their own coastline, but further afield in the Red Sea, particularly during the monsoon season in the wider Indian Ocean.

Tankers carrying Middle East oil through the Suez Canal must first pass through the Gulf of Aden.

According to maritime officials, about 4 per cent of the world's daily oil supply is shipped through the gulf.

--IANS

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