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A Hong Kong ship loaded with chemicals was hijacked by the pirates in the Gulf of Aden near the Somali coast on September 15, 2008. There were 22 crew members aboard. Of them, 18 were Indians. The chemical tanker Mt Stolt Valor was heading towards Mumbai when it confronted with the gang of pirates at about 38 nautical miles away from the Yemen coast. This is not the first time that such incident has taken place. In fact, 11 more vessels have been hijacked by the pirates in the similar way since July 20.
According to Andrew Mwangura, East Africa co-coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) the ship was hijacked at about 10:16 GMT on September 15. Besides the Indians, other abducted crewmembers include two Philippines citizens, one from Bangladesh and one from Russia. The ship was reportedly sailing through a security corridor under the strict surveillance of warships and aircraft. But pirates still managed to abduct it with ease. The increase of hijacking incidents in the Gulf of Aden over the last few months has placed the International Maritime Bureau under deep concern.
