Nearly 100 Filipino seamen being held off Horn of Africa: official
Agence France-Presse | 09/22/2008 2:40 PM
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The number of Filipino seamen being held by pirates around the Horn of Africa has risen to nearly 100 after the hijacking of a Greek merchant vessel, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday.
The Greek vessel, which was flying the Bahamas flag, was seized 250 nautical miles off Somalia on Sunday, with 19 crew on board -- 17 of them Filipinos.
"The latest hijacking takes the number of Filipino seamen being held captive around the Horn of Africa to 97," DFA Spokesman Claro Cristobal told local radio.
He said the department had no information about the fate of the latest hijack victims.
A local website said eight ships with Filipino crews have been hijacked off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden in the past three months.
"One of these was released, along with nine Filipino crew members, apparently after ransom was paid by its owner," the website said.
According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency, about a third of the world's shipping manpower -- some 266,500 workers -- are Filipino seamen.
Last year the International Maritime Bureau said piracy incidents worldwide rose 10 percent from the previous year to 263 incidents including 43 in Indonesia, 42 in Nigeria and 31 in Somalia.
Manila is trying to implement a ban on Filipino seamen deployed on merchant vessels in areas prone to hijacking.
Esteban Conejos, the foreign department's undersecretary for migrant workers affairs, told GMANews his office was determined to enact the ban in order to keep Filipino seamen from being sent on "ships plying pirate-infested routes."
