A Lebanese-owned freighter, flying a Togolese flag, was seized by pirates off the Horn of Africa on Tuesday, hours after a Greek merchant ship was hijacked, a Nato spokesperson said.
”I can confirm that a second cargo ship, the Sea Horse, has been seized,” said spokesperson Shona Lowe from Nato’s Northwood maritime command centre in England.
She could not provide details on the numbers or nationalities of the crew aboard the ship nor how many remained in danger.
The pirates attacked the vessel ”on three or four skiffs”, she said.
Earlier in the day Somali pirates took 22 crewmen from the Philippines hostage when they hijacked a Greek cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, Greece’s merchant marine ministry said.
The MV Irene, a Greek-operated vessel flagged in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, belonged to Chian Spirit Maritime Enterprises, based in the Greek port of Piraeus, it said.
Its seizure is the ninth hijacking in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean since the start of the month and follows a vow by pirates to seek revenge after an American military operation that rescued a US captain on Sunday. — AFP
