SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean navy destroyer caught up with a hijacked supertanker carrying about $160 million worth of crude oil and was maneuvering nearby in the Indian Ocean, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said today.
The supertanker, on its way from Iraq to the United States, is believed to have been hijacked by Somali pirates, the latest high-value bargaining chip for the sea bandits. Similar seizures of oil supertankers in the waters off the coast of lawless Somalia have yielded ransoms as high as $5.5 million.
South Korea’s navy received a call Sunday from the South Korean-operated 300,000-ton Samho Dream saying three pirates had boarded it. The navy then lost contact with the tanker.
At the time, the tanker was about 930 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden. It has 24 crew — five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos. South Korea quickly diverted a navy destroyer from anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden to pursue the hijacked tanker.
The destroyer caught up and began operating near the hijacked supertanker as of early today South Korean time, which was late Monday where the ships were operating, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A maritime analyst doubted the South Korean warship would launch an assault on the pirates believed to be holding Samho Dream because such action would put the crew at great risk.
