(RTTNews) - The captain of a Singapore-based chemical tanker hijacked off the island of Seychelles last week has died from gunshots wounds suffered when the pirates attacked the ship, media reports quoted a representative of the pirates as saying on Wednesday.

MV Theresa VIII, a Virgin Islands owned tanker operated from Singapore, was hijacked in the south Somali Basin, 180 nautical miles north west of the Seychelles, on Monday.

The vessel, with a crew of 28 North Koreans on board, was heading towards the Kenyan port city of Mombasa when it was hijacked. But it is now heading towards the Somali coast after the pirates forced the crew to turn it around.

Pirates said Wednesday that the body of the dead captain was on board the hijacked ship, which is now heading towards the Somali port of Harardhere.

Separately, Somali pirates on Wednesday attacked MV Maersk Alabama, a U.S. container ship, for a second time in seven months. According to European Union's anti-piracy mission, the sip was attacked some 350 nautical miles east of Somalia. The attack was reportedly repelled by the ship's crew, who responded to the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.
Wednesday's attack on MV Maersk Alabama, comes just seven months after the ship's American captain, Richard Phillips, was held hostage by pirates for five days after he was forced off his ship when it was hijacked in April. He was rescued unharmed after US Navy Seal snipers shot dead three of the four men holding him hostage in a daring night-time rescue mission.

The Somali coast has been infested by piracy in recent years. More than a hundred pirate attacks have been reported in the waters off Somalia since the beginning of 2008. Pirates are currently holding a dozen ships and more than 200 hostages, demanding multimillion-dollar ransoms for their release. Generally, the crew and the vessels are returned unharmed on receiving the demanded ransom.

Pirate attacks off the Somali coast have continued despite the presence of some 40 warships-- deployed by navies of the NATO, the European Union, Russia, China, South Korea and India-- in the region to protect cargo and cruise ships against piracy in the region.

In addition, the UN Security Council has approved four resolutions since June to promote international efforts to fight the escalating piracy problem off Somali coast and has authorized countries engaged in anti-piracy operations to conduct land and air attacks on the pirates after obtaining prior permission from the Somali government.

by RTT Staff Writer

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