Spanish fishing boat taken hostage off Kenyan coast

Spanish fishing boat taken hostage off Kenyan coast
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By h.b. - Mar 9, 2010 - 1:02 PM
The hijackers are reported to be still on board the vessel

The Spanish Minister for Defence has confirmed that a fishing boat captained by a Portuguese man with Spanish nationality has been boarded by pirates in the Indian Ocean while it was trawling off the coast of Kenya.

The owner of the ‘Xakoba’ is Kenyan with the company, East Africa Deep Fishing, but the vessel is based in Vigo, Galicia with the company Malaca Shipping. The vessel does not fish for tuna, but its catch is swordfish, shark and merlin.

An alert came from the EU mission against piracy, Atalanta, on Monday. The hijackers are reported to be still on board the vessel which they are reported to be using as a base from where to launch other attacks.

This time of the year is considered to be high season for the Somali pirates; last week three Spanish tuna vessels were attacked unsuccessfully in the area.

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