Authorities trail US-bound oil tanker seized by Somali pirates

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean navy destroyer caught up with a hijacked supertanker carrying about $160 million of crude oil and was maneu he supertanker, on its way from Iraq to the United States, is believed to have been hijacked by Somali pirates, the latest high-value bargaining chip for the sea bandits. Similar seizures of oil supertankers in the waters off the coast of lawless Somalia have yielded ransoms as high as $5.5 million.

South Korea’s navy received a call Sunday from the South Korean-operated 300,000-ton Samho Dream, but lost contact after the caller said three pirates had boarded it.

At the time, the tanker was about 930 miles southeast of the Gulf of Aden. It has 24 crew: five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos. South Korea quickly diverted a navy destroyer from antipiracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden to pursue the hijacked tanker.

The destroyer caught up and began operating near the hijacked supertanker as of early today South Korean time, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The tanker was sailing toward Somalia’s coast, it said.

A maritime analyst doubted the South Korean warship would launch an assault on the pirates believed to be holding Samho Dream because such action would put the crew at great risk. The tanker’s highly volatile cargo prevents crews from carrying guns on board or even lighting cigarettes while on deck.

“The reason why an assault is extremely hazardous is you have to be able to suppress the pirates and take control back as fast as possible. If you don’t take control fast, there is a greater risk to the crew,’’ said Graeme Gibbon Brooks of Dryad Maritime Intelligence in Britain.

Previously, when Somali pirates have captured supertankers, naval forces patrolling the Gulf of Aden have only moved close to where the vessels have been anchored, to monitor them until they are released.

This was the case when a Greek-flagged oil supertanker was seized in November last year and a Saudi supertanker was hijacked in November 2008.

The tanker seized yesterday was sailing to Louisiana, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said.

The Samho Dream had no security detail because Somali pirates were believed to be inactive in the area where the tanker was seized, said Cho Yong-woo of Samho Shipping.

But pirates have also shown an ability to strike farther afield.