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Somalia - South Korea

Pirates hijack South Korean oil tanker

A South Korean oil tanker with 24 crew members aboard has been hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean. The 300,000-tonne Samho Dream, which is carrying as much as 125 million euros worth of crude oil, was seized on Sunday.

Reuters
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It had been on its way from Iraq to the US state of Louisiana and has a crew of five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos.

A South Korean destroyer, which was in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy operations, has been ordered to move to waters off Somalia, according to South Korean military.

But a spokesman did not confirm whether the destroyer, which has about 300 soldiers on board, has been ordered to intercept the hijacked ship.

Somali pirates are thought to have made over 40 million euros from ransom payments last year. Last week, nine North Korean sailors were wounded by Somali pirates who made an unsuccessful attempt to capture their ship. Four of the crew were seriously injured and were brought to Kenya for treatment.

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