John
04-11-2009, 08:39 PM
Somali pirates have hijacked a tugboat in the Gulf of Aden with 16 crew members on board - 10 of them Italians, reports say.
Maritime industry sources say the tug was towing two barges at the time of the attack at 0800 GMT. The crew are said to be unharmed.
Meanwhile pirates holding a US captain hostage have warned that using force to rescue him could result in "disaster".
The pirates said they hoped to put Capt Richard Phillips on a larger vessel.
US and other naval ships are making their way to the area.
He is being held by four pirates in a lifeboat hundreds of kilometres off Somalia.
Meanwhile unnamed US officials were quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was examining the hijacking.
US Attorney General Eric Holder said last week there had not been a case of piracy against a US ship for hundreds of years.
In other developments:
Sailors on a Panama-flagged bulk carrier repulsed a pirate attack with water hoses. Nato officials on a nearby Portuguese warship said an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade landed in the commanding officer's cabin
On Friday, one Frenchman and two pirates were killed in a rescue operation by French troops on another vessel captured off Somalia. Four others, including a child, were freed from the yacht
Growing concern
Earlier reports suggested that a group of Somali elders were preparing to mediate between American officials and the pirates for Capt Phillips' release, but there has been no news of any progress.
The US national was taken hostage on Wednesday after pirates hijacked his ship, the Maersk Alabama, as it sailed towards the Kenyan port of Mombasa carrying food aid.
Maritime industry sources say the tug was towing two barges at the time of the attack at 0800 GMT. The crew are said to be unharmed.
Meanwhile pirates holding a US captain hostage have warned that using force to rescue him could result in "disaster".
The pirates said they hoped to put Capt Richard Phillips on a larger vessel.
US and other naval ships are making their way to the area.
He is being held by four pirates in a lifeboat hundreds of kilometres off Somalia.
Meanwhile unnamed US officials were quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was examining the hijacking.
US Attorney General Eric Holder said last week there had not been a case of piracy against a US ship for hundreds of years.
In other developments:
Sailors on a Panama-flagged bulk carrier repulsed a pirate attack with water hoses. Nato officials on a nearby Portuguese warship said an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade landed in the commanding officer's cabin
On Friday, one Frenchman and two pirates were killed in a rescue operation by French troops on another vessel captured off Somalia. Four others, including a child, were freed from the yacht
Growing concern
Earlier reports suggested that a group of Somali elders were preparing to mediate between American officials and the pirates for Capt Phillips' release, but there has been no news of any progress.
The US national was taken hostage on Wednesday after pirates hijacked his ship, the Maersk Alabama, as it sailed towards the Kenyan port of Mombasa carrying food aid.