Pirates have captured one of the Beluga-based shipping company’s charted cargo ships in the Indian Ocean, it has been confirmed.
The company issued the following statement yesterday: "We received a distress call this Sunday at 7:08 am (0508 GMT) from our cargo Beluga Fortune," said the statement. "We can now confirm that this was an attack and that our ship was seized by Somali pirates."
The Singapore-flagged York, a 5,076-tonne tanker en route for the Seychelles, was attacked around 50 nautical miles east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
The ship is carrying 17 crew members, including a German master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos.
A Turkish warship confirmed the seizure Sunday after being dispatched to investigate after an attack on the York by two skiffs the previous day in the Somali basin, not long after it sailed out of Mombasa, the EU mission said in a statement.
"The helicopter was able to observe pirates with weapons on board the vessel," the statement said.
A representative of the ship’s operating company, Athens-based Interunity Management Corporation, said: "We have not spoken to the crew but we believe they are in good health," the company representative said.
In a separate statement, the company said the ship had issued a distress signal whilst sailing between Mombasa and the Seychelles island of Mahe.
"We understand that the pirates have control of the vessel and it is sailing towards the Somali coast. No contact has yet been made with the vessel," the company statement said.
"The company is working to bring this incident to a safe resolution for the crew and vessel," it said.
Including this weekend's seizures, pirates currently are holding 20 vessels with at least 428 hostages, an EU statement said.
Edited by Darrel Moore
The company issued the following statement yesterday: "We received a distress call this Sunday at 7:08 am (0508 GMT) from our cargo Beluga Fortune," said the statement. "We can now confirm that this was an attack and that our ship was seized by Somali pirates."
The Singapore-flagged York, a 5,076-tonne tanker en route for the Seychelles, was attacked around 50 nautical miles east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
The ship is carrying 17 crew members, including a German master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos.
A Turkish warship confirmed the seizure Sunday after being dispatched to investigate after an attack on the York by two skiffs the previous day in the Somali basin, not long after it sailed out of Mombasa, the EU mission said in a statement.
"The helicopter was able to observe pirates with weapons on board the vessel," the statement said.
A representative of the ship’s operating company, Athens-based Interunity Management Corporation, said: "We have not spoken to the crew but we believe they are in good health," the company representative said.
In a separate statement, the company said the ship had issued a distress signal whilst sailing between Mombasa and the Seychelles island of Mahe.
"We understand that the pirates have control of the vessel and it is sailing towards the Somali coast. No contact has yet been made with the vessel," the company statement said.
"The company is working to bring this incident to a safe resolution for the crew and vessel," it said.
Including this weekend's seizures, pirates currently are holding 20 vessels with at least 428 hostages, an EU statement said.
Edited by Darrel Moore
