Pirates seize two European tankers off Somalia

[Fred Vloo]

Two European-owned tankers have been  hijacked off the Somali coast and other vessels in the area have been alerted  to a pick-up in pirate activity, the EU's anti-piracy naval mission said  Thursday.
The Maritime Security Centre run by the EU naval force said that the  9,000-tonne Greek-owned, Panamanian-flagged M.V. Nipayia http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=56347 (under her former name: Golden Dianne) was seized on  Wednesday with its crew of 19.
The incident was followed early on Thursday with the capture of the  23,000-tonne Norwegian-owned and Bahamian-registered M.V. Bow-Asir http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=644698 (also former name: NCC Asir) with an  unspecified number of crew.
Ransom-hunting Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the  region last year, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to  the International Maritime Bureau.
The number and success rate of pirate attacks has declined slightly since  the start of the year, due to unfavourable seas and increased foreign naval  presence in the Gulf of Aden.