Pirates grab ship with Indian crew in Tanzania waters

Somali pirates seized a Panamanian-flagged ship inside Tanzanian territorial waters on Wednesday, the third incident in four days off the east African nation's coast, a maritime official and advocacy group said.

Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said the bitumen carrier MT Asphalt Venture was heading for Durban empty after unloading its bitumen cargo in the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

"The vessel had 15 crew, all Indians. It is now heading northward to Somalia," Mwangura said

Calmer sea conditions have resulted in a surge in raids on the high-seas in the last few weeks, Mwangura said.

Maritime advocacy group Ecoterra International said in a statement the MT Asphalt Venture was managed by Mumbai-based Omci Ship Management Pvt and owned by Bitumen Invest AS of United Arab Emirates.

It confirmed the 15-strong crew were Indian and said the 3,884 deadweight tonne vessel was heading to Harardhere, a pirate base on the coast of central Somalia.

Hijackings off the lawless Horn of Africa nation have earned Somali pirates tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, raised shipping insurance premiums and forced ships to sail longer, costlier routes to evade pirates.

The pirates operate despite an international flotilla of warships patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and further out into the Indian Ocean.

The hijack is the latest attack off Tanzania in recent days, with one occurring just 45 miles off its commercial capital of Dar es Salaam.

On Wednesday, the European Union's anti-piracy taskforce said the Italian naval ship ITS Libeccio had freed a hijacked Iranian-flagged dhow.

The dhow was first spotted towing two pirate skiffs, a tell-tale sign of a hijacked vessel, by a French patrol helicopter.

"Warning shots were fired from the helicopter in an attempt to stop the dhow. The dhow initially refused to stop and was shadowed overnight," EU Navfor said in a statement. The pirates surrendered early on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear what action had been taken against them.

0n Sunday, Tanzania's navy captured a suspected Somali pirate after a gun battle off Tanzania's southern Mtwara coast in an area where the London-based oil and gas firm Ophir Energy has an exploration vessel.

Two days later, the Malta-flagged chemical product tanker MV Mississippi Star with 18 crew also evaded a pirate raid off Tanzania.