Chinese Carrier Hijacked in Indian Ocean

Around noon local time, October 19th 2009, the Bulk Carrier De Xin Hai from the Peoples Republic of China was hijacked in the Indian Ocean, 350 nautical miles North East of the Seychelles and 700 nautical miles off the East coast of Somalia.

On indication of an attack an EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft, operating from the Seychelles was launched to investigate the incident. The MPA located the ship and has reported that there are four pirates visible and two skiffs (small pirate craft) being towed by the ship

The bulk carrier was not registered with the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa.

Adding these 25 hostages from the Bulk Carrier to the total number of personnel held by hostages, this makes 146 hostages in total held by criminals at the Somali Coastline.