Somali pirates hijack first commercial ship since 2012 | Reuters
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-somalia-hijack-idUSKBN16L0EW
Map showing the vessel track of the ARIS 13 — a small bunker tanker capable of carrying 1,800 deadweight tonnes of fuel — which was en route from Djibouti to Mogadishu when it was allegedly hijacked off the coast of Somalia.
REUTERS/Thomson Reuters Eikon
Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board, Somali authorities said on Tuesday, the first time a commercial ship has been seized in the region since 2012.
Security forces have been sent to free the Aris 13, a regional police official said late on Tuesday.
“We are determined to rescue the ship and its crew. Our forces have set off to Alula. It is our duty to rescue ships hijacked by pirates and we shall rescue it,” Abdirahman Mohamud Hassan, director general of Puntland’s marine police forces, told Reuters by phone.
Puntland is a semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Alula is a port town there where pirates have taken the tanker.
