Somali Pirates Capture Super Tanker
Somali pirates have captured a tanker carrying oil to the US. The Greek-owned Maran Centaurus was about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) off the coast of Somalia when it was hijacked on Sunday, said the EU Naval task force.
The ship weighs some 300,000 tonnes and is believed to be one of the largest yet seized by Somali pirates. There are 28 crew members on board.
Pirate attacks have been common off the Somali coast and international navies have been deployed to counter them.
A spokesman for the Greek coastguard told Reuters news agency that about nine armed pirates attacked the ship close to the Seychelles.
The task force said the ship had been heading for New Orleans in the US from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia but was now heading towards Somalia.
Its crew is made up of 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and one Romanian. An EU naval spokesman told the BBC that 11 vessels and 264 crew members were currently being held in Somalia.
In November 2008, the Sirius Star, carrying two million barrels of oil - a quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output - became the largest ship ever seized by pirates. It weighs 318,000 tonnes.
The vessel was released in January after a ransom of $3 million was paid.