By Lee Hyo-sik
Staff Reporter
A South Korean oil tanker, with five Koreans and 19 Filipinos onboard, has been hijacked by pirates in waters off Somalia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Sunday.
The 300,000-ton tanker, the Samho Dream, was on its way to the U.S. state of Louisiana after departing from Iraq when it was seized in the Indian Ocean at about 4:10 p.m. (KST). The hijacking took place about 1,500 km southeast of the Gulf of Aden, off the Somali coast where the Korean Navy's anti-piracy Cheonghae unit operates.
The tanker owned by Samho Shipping, one of the nation's mid-sized shipping firms, is registered on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Following the news, the foreign ministry set up a taskforce to deal with the incident and held an emergency meeting with officials from related-ministries at 7:30 p.m. It decided not to reveal the identities of the abducted Korean crewmembers over concerns for their safety, ministry spokesman Cheo Jong-hyun said.
``We are placing top priority on confirming the safety of the crew and the condition of the ship,'' Cheo said.
Samho Shipping also said it will do its best to ensure the safe release of the tanker and its crew as early as possible.
Separately, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs issued a warning that Korean ships should take extra caution when sailing in the Indian Ocean near the Somali coast, given the frequent hijackings of ships by pirates there.