Pirates hijack ship carrying UN aid

PIRATES hijacked a cargo ship delivering UN food aid to northeastern Somalia yesterday — at least the third time since 2005 that a vessel contracted to the United Nations has been hijacked off the country’s dangerous coast.

The ship, MV Rozen, had just dropped off more than 1,800 tons of food aid in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in north-eastern Somalia when the pirates struck, said Stephanie Savariaud, a spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Programme.

It was not immediately known if any of the 12 crew members aboard — six from Sri Lanka and six from Kenya — were injured in the attack.

“We know it has been hijacked by pirates, but we do not know how many pirates there are,” Savariaud said. “We are very concerned about the safety of the crew.” There was an attempted hijacking on the same ship in March last year by five pirates armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but the vessel managed to outrun them.