The South Korea’s crude laden 300,000-ton ship with 24 crew on board hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean anchored late yesterday some 7km (4 miles) off the coast of Somalia, BBC reports citing South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The crude oil tanker was en route from Iraq to the United States
The news agency said the crew of the tanker were still safe, “but their lives will be at risk if the navy ship (SK’s warship) tried to close in on the Samho Dream".
The South Korean owner of the ship, Samho Shipping Company, has also made its first contact with the pirates as the hijackers demanded direct talks with the ship's owner.
The first successful hijacking of a so-called Very Large Crude Carrier was of the Saudi-owned Sirius Star in late 2008.
Another VLCC, the Maran Centaurus, was taken last November and held for two months before a ransom estimated at between $5.5m and $7m was paid.