The DGS said the vessel had been hijacked off the Somalian coast on Saturday with at least ten Indians on board. The hijacking allegedly occurred on the 3,700 km coastline of Somalia, large stretches of it not patrolled by Somali coast guard or international sea safety agencies.This is the third such case in this year so far.
According to a top DGS official they were investigating the matter but were hindered in their efforts as there was no intimation about the hijacking from the ships owners.
The 3,340 gross register tonnage (GRT) vessel MV Victoria registered in Jordan and made in 1979 had 12 crewmembers from India, Tanzania, Pakistan and Bangladesh.At the time of the incident, the master and crew gave a distress signal.There is no update on the safety of the crew so far.
The International Maritime Organisation had issued guidelines to member states because of the increasing number of cases of piracy and armed robbery on ships off the coast of Somalia.
India has alerted the Coast Guard in Somalia and the International Maritime Bureau piracy centre in Kuala Lumpur and London.
The ship laden with cargo had sailed from Mumbai earlier this month and went missing about 55 nautical miles off the Somalian coast. The ship was believed to be carrying sugar donated by Denmark from Mumbai to Mogadishu towards humanitarian aid.
According to shipping officials, the hijackers were in all probability militia fighters from Somalia.
They said these incidents occurred when militias ruled the roost in Somalia. However the defeat of several militias by armed forces of Somalia and other African Horn nations meant the pirates have made a comeback.
“They are well-equipped with speed boats and high end satellite phones through which they track merchant ships. These were probably former militia fighters who after having done with their wars have now entered the world of high sea piracy,” said an official.
According to shipping officials they have learnt from the Kenyan Seafarers’ Assistance Programme that the pirates boarded the ship from three speedboats and took the vessel north towards Hobyo region.Last year MV Victoria was involved in another failed hijacking attempt which failed food aid for Somali.