Beijing ready to combat pirates

The US navy yesterday issued a harrowing picture of Chinese sailors being held at gunpoint on a fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates off Kenya last week.

Taken by the US Navy Fifth Fleet on Monday, the snap shows the crew of the Tianyu 8, from Tianjin Ocean Fishing Corp, sitting in a circle on deck surrounded by gunmen somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Twenty-five sailors, 17 Chinese and eight foreigners, were aboard the ship when pirates hijacked it in Kenyan fishing waters on November 14.