By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
A tanker registered in Japan with two South Korean crewmembers onboard was reported missing off the coast of northern Somalia, Monday, according to an international piracy watchdog.
One of the Koreans is the captain of the vessel, while the other is the chief engineer, according to Yonahp News Service. They have not been immediately identified by name.
The agency quoted the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center based in Kuala Lumpur, as saying that the tanker with 23 non-Japanese crewmembers including Filipinos and Myanmarese was seized in the Gulf of Aden when the ship entered Somali waters.
The watchdog said that the vessel sent out a distress message but did not disclose further information, it added.
The Foreign Ministry in Seoul, however, said that it is unclear whether the signal was related to a kidnapping or whether pirates seized the ship.
The report came amid mounting concerns for four South Korean fishermen and 20 other nationals being held captive in Somalia by pirates since May.
Two South Korean fishing vessels were taken in waters off Somalia in May, with four South Korean sailors, 10 Chinese, four Indonesians, three Indians and three Vietnamese aboard. The abductors have demanded $1.1 million in ransom.
Japanese authorities also confirmed that the ship had no Japanese crewmembers, Yonhap said.
Somalia is located along major shipping routes linking the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, through which many freighters pass on their from Asia to Europe and vice versa.
The coasts have been virtually unpoliced over the last 16 years as Somalia, currently led by a U.N.-backed transitional government, battles to establish authority amid challenges from an Islamic insurgency.
Pirates have attacked several vessels this year in the area waters, according to the maritime watchdog.