Somalia pirates hijack German cargo ship: EU

Somali pirates hijacked a German-owned cargo ship on Friday just 35 miles off the coast of Oman, the EU's anti-piracy task force said.

The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged vessel was attacked and boarded by at least 10 pirates while on its way to Port Sudan from Mumbai in India, the naval force said in a statement.

"In the early morning of 8 April, the general cargo ship MV Susan K was pirated approximately 200 nautical miles northeast of Salalah, Oman, a location only 35 nautical miles from the Omani coastline," the EU Navfor said.

It said the vessel has a crew of 10 from Ukraine and the Philippines.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government for two decades, allowing armed gangs to stalk the strategic waterways off the Horn of Africa nation and rake in tens of millions of dollars in ransoms each year.