Somali pirates have seized a petrochemical tanker at Salalah, a major port in Oman, holding the 21-strong Indian crew hostage.
The Indian Directorate General of Shipping has confirmed that the vessel - the Fairchem Bogey, a chemical-oil tanker - was hijacked while anchored six miles off the coast within Omani waters. Sources cited by Reuters state the tanker was being filled with methanol at the time it was hijacked.
The hijacked vessel is managed by Mumbai-based Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, the Directorate said, confirming that the pirates are in negotiations with the Omani government.
Somali pirates behind similar vessel hijackings usually operate in Indian Ocean waters, but in January, a 20,586-tonne Algerian-flagged bulk carrier was seized about 150 miles southeast of Salalah.
The ship, with 27 crew from Algeria, Ukraine and the Philippines, was heading to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from Salalah with a cargo of clinker.
The end of the southwest monsoon winds in August marks the end of very turbulent high seas In the Gulf of Aden, making it easier for Somali pirates with small vessels to sail out and attack ships, says Andrew Mwangura, shipping editor of The Somalia Report, who says "the high season for piracy has just started."
