More Piracy Near Somalia

[AdamG]

A tense standoff has developed in waters off Somalia over an Iranian merchant ship laden with a mysterious cargo that was hijacked by pirates.

Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died.

Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the Sunday Times: “We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship.”

The vessel’s declared cargo consists of “minerals” and “industrial products”. But officials involved in negotiations over the ship are convinced that it was sailing for Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia’s Islamist rebel

http://www.thetimes.co.za/article.aspx?id=851953


Iran has rejected reports that its vessel hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden was carrying a ‘dangerous consignment’.

The pirates were angry because when they opened the cargo of the Iranian ship, several Somalis died, while others lost hair and suffered skin burns, Reuters quoted Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenyan-based East African Seafarers’ Assistance Program, as saying.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=178063

See also
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archiv...rrounds_hi.php