Pirates seize British cargo ship in Gulf of Aden

Somali pirates have hijacked a British cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, the fifth vessel to be seized in a surge of attacks in less than 48 hours. The 32,000-tonne Malaspina Castle was taken early on Monday and was believed to be heading towards Somalia’s pirate-infested coast. The British-owned ship, operated by an Italian company, carried a crew of 24, from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and the Philippines, who are understood to be safe onboard. A Taiwanese fishing boat, a French yacht, a Yemeni tugboat and a German container vessel were also hijacked in the most successful two days of attacks by Somali pirates this year. An international naval task force, including British warships, has been patrolling the waters off Somalia since late last year in a bid to deter pirates. During 2008, the Somali gunmen raided more than 130 vessels, mostly in the Gulf of Aden, resulting in 50 successful hijackings and a multi-million pound windfall for the pirates. Many of the pirate teams are now venturing much further south, away from their usual hunting grounds north of Somalia and closer to the Indian Ocean islands of the Seychelles and Comoros. They operate from large ‘mother ships’ which can sail greater distances from the coast, and then launch small skiffs to speed up to their targets and board them using ladders, grappling hooks and armed with automatic weapons. A former oceanographic research ship converted into a luxury dive boat was taken late last week just hours after its party of British tourists had disembarked in an outlying atoll in the Seychelles.
Pirates seize British cargo ship in Gulf of Aden

wow, i didn't even know that pirates still existed! That was pretty interesting to learn... What nationality are the pirates though? If their doing so much damage and overseizing all of these boats and killing all these people why havent they been stopped by now? By what i read in the article it seems like we know where these pirates are staying, so police forces need to take some action and stop these mad men! Poor innocent people are being killed, by some 'pirates of the caribbean' wanna-be's. lol ... hopefully they just move away from where they've been staying and change their actions! That would be pretty cool to meet a pirate though.. i'd have to admit.

It amazes me to see that we still have pirates on this earth. I wonder if they look like Jack Sparrow, or more like your average everyday street thug? Well I hope I never find out. I still cannot believe they took a ship of that magnitude. The boat was 32000 tons, where are you going to hide something that big? I watched a little bit on the news and one of the crewman said they had captured a pirate then tried to exchange him for the Captain but in the midst of the trade, the pirates back stabbed him and kept the captain. Big surprise! I hope they catch these guys!

Im going to have to agree with the other responses, I thought that pirates were only a thing of the past, use for the only purpose of bedtime stories. I just saw something on the news about this though, and I did hear as well that the crew was safe onboard. Its amazing how much there is to worry about when traveling. When your in the air you have to worry about terrorists hijacking the plane, and then by train you have to worry about terrorist trying to crash the plane. Now when you travel by boat you have to worry about pirates. I wonder what a modern day pirate would look like... I can't imagine a peg leg or an eye patch, but who knows.