Somali pirates seized a Syrian cargo ship flying the flag of Togo Thursday night. The ship, Khalid Mohie Eddin, was captured in the northern Arabian Sea, nearly 330 nautical miles southeast of Oman's Salalah port.
EU Naval Forces (Operation Atlanta) announced in a statement released in Addis Ababa Friday, that pirates attacked with small arms before boarding the ship, and the connection with the ship is now cut.
The statement said the vessel was en route from Singapore to the port of Hodeidah in Yemen, with a crew of 22 Syrians and three Egyptians.
Somali pirates continue hijacking vessels for high ransoms, despite the presence of foreign warships off the Somali coasts. The nation has been devastated by civil war and chaos since the overthrow of the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
An international report published earlier this month said that piracy worldwide, most of which occurs in the Indian Ocean, costs the global economy between US$7 billion to US$12 billion per year.
