Nairobi: Somali pirates seized a Chinese cargo ship on Monday with 25 people onboard, a naval spokesman for the European Union`s anti-piracy force said, in the first successful attack on a Chinese vessel since the country deployed three naval warships to the region.
Cmdr John Harbour said that coalition forces had observed at least two pirates onboard the deck of the De Xin Hai and the cargo ship also was towing two light skiffs used by the pirates behind it.
All 25 crew onboard are Chinese, he said.
The attack occurred early today in the Indian Ocean about 1,100 kilometres east of the lawless Somali coastline. Harbour said he believed it was the farthest afield the pirates had ever struck.
"We`re pushing them further and further afield to get targets," he said, referring to a coalition of navies dedicated to fighting piracy in the region.
Analyst Roger Middleton from British thinktank Chatham House said it was unlikely that the Chinese would want to endanger the lives of their crew through direct intervention. French and American navies have both engaged pirates holding hostages, he said, but only when the navies believed the hostages` lives were in imminent danger.
The Chinese "probably would use a more cautious approach," Middleton said. But, he added, "We`ve never seen so many Chinese citizens captured at a time when Chinese ships were in the region."
Bureau Report
