Somali pirates hijacked a large oil tanker owned by Saudi Arabian Oil Co. off the coast of Kenya, in one of the most daring attacks on a merchant vessel in the region, the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said. The tanker, Sirius Star, operated by Vela International, was more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa when a group of pirates managed to scale the 10-meter (32-foot) high side of the ship, Lieutenant Nate Christensen said in a telephone interview from Bahrain, where the Fifth Fleet is based.
The crew of 25 includes citizens of Croatia, the U.K., the Philippines, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, Christensen said.
Sirius Star is three times the size of a U.S. aircraft carrier and shows how they are successfully expanding their operations,'' Christensen said, adding that previous attacks have occurred within 200 nautical miles of land. Further information wasn't immediately available.
Piracy in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, has more than doubled in 2008, with assailants using GPS navigational aids and satellite
phones to find potential targets, according to an October report by the London-based research organization Chatham House.
The European Union agreed on Oct. 10 to dispatch warships to the region to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, India, Malaysia and Russia that have deployed vessels to combat piracy.
The crew of 25 includes citizens of Croatia, the U.K., the Philippines, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, Christensen said.
Sirius Star is three times the size of a U.S. aircraft carrier and shows how they are successfully expanding their operations,'' Christensen said, adding that previous attacks have occurred within 200 nautical miles of land. Further information wasn't immediately available.
Piracy in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, has more than doubled in 2008, with assailants using GPS navigational aids and satellite
phones to find potential targets, according to an October report by the London-based research organization Chatham House.
The European Union agreed on Oct. 10 to dispatch warships to the region to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, India, Malaysia and Russia that have deployed vessels to combat piracy.