Korean Destroyer Shadows Pirates
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) — A South Korean navy destroyer has caught up with a supertanker hijacked by pirates that was cruising toward the Somali coast with a cargo of crude oil worth as much as $170 million, an official said Tuesday.
The South Korean-operated, Singapore-owned Samho Dream, which can carry more than two million barrels of crude, was seized Sunday en route from Iraq to the United States, in the latest sign the sea gangs are seeking bigger quarry.
The destroyer, equipped with weapons that can hit targets as far as 20 miles away and carrying a Lynx combat helicopter on board, was shadowing the tanker as it headed for East Africa, a South Korean official said.
He declined to comment further on what was being planned by the naval unit, which was deployed last year to protect commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
The tanker’s crew of 5 South Koreans and 19 Filipinos was taken hostage when it was seized in the Indian Ocean, about 970 miles east of the Somali coast.
The ship’s operator, Samho Shipping, denied reports that it had been in contact with the pirates or started negotiations for the release of the crew and the ship. Efforts to reach the crew have so far been unsuccessful, a Samho official said.
A Texas-based refiner, Valero Energy, said it was the owner of the crude oil cargo, bound for the Gulf Coast of the United States.
