Somali pirates seize Greek-owned ship in Gulf of Aden

Somali pirates have seized a Liberia-flagged and Greek-owned ship with 23 people aboard in the Gulf of Aden, officials said on Wednesday.                                           
 

The ship, managed by Eurobulk Ltd and named Eleni P, was carrying iron and sailing from Ukraine to China via Singapore. Of the 23 people on board, two were Greeks, one Romanian, one Ukrainian and the rest Filipinos, the company said.                     

Eurobulk officials told Reuters that 10 people had boarded the ship at approximately 0510 GMT on Wednesday and that the crew was safe.                                           
 

"We still can't contact the ship but we believe it is sailing to Somalia," Eurobulk's security officer Markos Vassilikos told Reuters. "In our last communication they said they were all well."

Vassilikos did not disclose whether the pirates had demanded a ransom.                                           

On Tuesday, pirates hijacked a Bulgarian-flagged ship in the Gulf of Aden as it headed to India.                                           

Rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia has earned gunmen tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and increased insurance premiums for ships. Some vessels have chosen to take longer, more costly routes to avoid areas where pirates operate.