Bulk Carrier Hijacked in Indian Ocean, Containership Missing

MV ROSALIA D’AMATO (Source: Robert Smera/PBase)

The European Union Naval Force Somalia, or EU NAVFOR, has reported that the bulk carrier M/V Rosalia D’Amato was pirated approximately 350NM South East of Salalah, Oman, in the Indian Ocean earlier this morning.

The 74,500 tonne Italian flagged and owned vessel was on its way to Bandar Imam Khomeini (Iran) from Paranagua (Brazil) when it was attacked by a single skiff. Coalition warships had communications with the vessel and were told: ‘pirates onboard stay away’. The M/V Rosalia D’Amato has a crew of 21(6 Italians, 15 Filipinos). There is no further information on the condition of the crew at present.

The M/V Rosalia D’Amato was registered with MSC(HOA) and was reporting to UKMTO.

In other news, Dow Jones is reporting that a Hanjin Shipping container ship with 14 South Koreans aboard lost contact with its company Thursday off Somalia.

The 75,000-ton container ship had departed from Spain for Singapore.

“The ship made its last communications at around 5 a.m.,” the report quoted the official as saying, without confirming media reports that the ship had been hijacked.

UPDATE: According to a report from a Korean news site, the Hanjin containership previously reported missing has been found by the Korean naval destroyer Choi Young. The report states that the Korean troops found all 20 crew members inside the freighter’s emergency shelter. Report HERE.