DPRK's ship fights off Somali pirates

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-15 17:05

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Somali pirates tried but failed to hijack a cargo ship of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) when crew members fought back with improvised fire bombs and sped away, a maritime official said Tuesday.

The ship was adrift off the Somali coast near Mogadishu on September 5 for engine work when the crew saw 10 pirates approaching in two speedboats, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

The DPRK's ship immediately started its engine and moved away, and the captain called the IMB for help when the pirates, dressed in military clothing, began firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, Choong said.

The crew fought back with improvised molotov cocktails - bottles filled with kerosene or similar fluid and set alight by a wick or rag. The crew also fired distress rocket flares at the pirates, and the ship escaped "after the captain increased speed," Choong said.

The captain later told the IMB a US warship arrived at the scene, but the pirates had fled, Choong added. He could not confirm it was a US ship.

One of the 30 DPRK's crew members was injured, and the ship was damaged, Choong said. The ship was heading to the Middle East when it was attacked. It was not clear where the ship went afterward.

The incident raised the number of attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden this year to 156. So far, 32 ships have been hijacked and five remain held by pirates along with 102 crew members, Choong said.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 - a power vacuum that has allowed the pirates to operate freely around Somalia's 1,900-mile (3,060-kilometer) east African coastline, along one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

The US government last week warned of an increase in piracy off Africa's east coast because the monsoon has ended and Somali pirates will have easier access to passing ships.