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Muscat: A 13-member crew of an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged dry cargo ship, attacked and captured by pirates last Thursday while on its way from the southern entrance of the Red Sea to Qaboos port in Muscat, are safe and in good health.
"We have information that the crew is in good health," Verena Beckhusen, spokesperson for the Bremen-based shipping company the Beluga Group told Gulf News yesterday over the telephone from Bremen in Germany.
The Beluga Group owns the carrier but it was chartered out to the Leer-based shipping company BBC Chartering & Logistics GmbH & Co and sailed under the Antigua & Barbuda flag. Last Thursday, the German company discovered pirates near the coastline of Somalia had captured their ship. They have only been able to contact them once.
"On-board is a 13-member crew. In addition to a Slovak captain both Russian and Filipino seamen belong to the crew of the Antigua & Barbuda flagged ship," said Beckhusen in reply to a question via e-mail.
Highest priority
"The safety of the crew is our highest priority," she stressed, adding that was one of the reasons why the company was not revealing more details on the people on-board.
The Philippine embassy in Muscat confirmed that there were Filipino seamen on board the MV BBC Trinidad, captured.
"Our administrative officer is following the matter but we cannot say where and when he will have information," a staff member at the Philippines embassy told Gulf News yesterday.
When it was seized, the vessel was in international waters in the Gulf of Aden, north of the coast of Somalia.
This is the fourth case of pirates capturing ships in Somali waters reported since July 27. According to sources in the shipping industry, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has warned all ships crossing the Gulf of Aden to look out for two suspicious vessels believed to be used in piracy.
Foreign vessels are frequently seized in these waters for ransom by pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and automatic weapons. Last June, the UN Security Council voted to allow international warships to enter Somali waters to combat the problem. However, its 1,880-mile coastline, the longest in Africa, is virtually impossible to police.
The Philippine embassy in Muscat confirmed that there were Filipino seamen on-board.
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