Somali pirates have hijacked a South Korean oil tanker in the Indian Ocean. The Foreign Ministry in Seoul stated, "Samho Dream (300 thousand ton) with a crew of 24 was carrying oil from Iraq to the U.S. state of Louisiana when it was seized by Somali pirates at around 4:10 P.M. Sunday (KST)." The ministry went on to say that the "navy received a call from the Samho Dream saying three Somali pirates had boarded the vessel." In order to respond to the seized tanker and to help to release the crew members the ministry has set up a task force.
Samho Dream was on the way to Louisiana from Iraq. The oil tanker is a registered vessel that is owned by South Korea's Samho's Shipping Co. and the ship has a total of 24 crew members, which five are South Korean and 19 are Filipino. The water is near the East African nation, which is well-known for pirates who hunt for huge amount of ransom from captured ships.
Samho Dream was seized southeast of the Gulf of Aden, however, 1,500 kilometers away Korea's Cheonghae naval destroyer is operating to protect ships from Somali pirates and fight against global piracy. Due to the fact that two years ago a case involving South Koreans were aboard a Japanese-flagged vessel were taken captive by Somali pirates and were released after months of negations over the ransom amount.
