Pirates Attack Ship Off Somali Coast

By Pamela Mortimer

The destroyer USS Porter responded to a distress call on Sunday reporting that the Golden Mori was under attack from two pirate vessels. The Golden Mori, a tanker, was reportedly hijacked on Monday night. Maritime officials stated that the crew of the tanker allegedly fought back and were able to overpower their attackers, thereby regaining control of the vessel. The Golden Mori, a tanker, was reported to have been hijacked on Monday.

The USS Porter, which was on loan to an international task force, received to the distress call and responded with "deadly force", officials said.

The Porter's sister ship, the USS Arleigh Burke, reportedly was providing an escort for the Japanese-owned tanker and pursued the escaping hijackers.

Nearly two dozen of the Golden Mori’s crew reportedly fought back and overpowered eight gunmen who seized the vessel late Monday. The crew was able to fend off their attackers, regaining control of the vessel, maritime officials said. At the time of the attack, the Golden Mori was located in international waters in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia near the Socotra Islands. After the attack, the crew piloted the ship back to a war-battered port in Mogadishu, said Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program.

There was some confusion regarding the Golden Mori's registry and origin of ownership. Some reported that the tanker was flying a Panamanian flag; others reported it either was a North or South Korean registered ship.

Contrary to popular belief, piracy is not a thing of the past. In fact, a report released this month showed that pirate attacks worldwide jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007. The biggest increase in activity occurred in the weakly monitored waters of Somalia and Nigeria. Reported attacks in Somalia rose rapidly from 8 to 26 in the past year according to the London-based International Maritime Bureau. Some of those hijackings turned deadly.

The IMB issued a report saying that Southeast Asia's Malacca Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways, has been relatively quiet with 198 attacks on ships reported between January and September 2007, an increase from 174 in the same period in 2006.

Somalia has experienced 16 years of violence and anarchy, and is now led by a government battling to establish authority. Its coasts are virtually unprotected.