Somali Pirates: S.Korea tanker with 24 crew hijacked

Reported here:

A South Korean oil tanker with 24 crew members was hijacked on Sunday off the coast of Somalia, apparently by pirates, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

The 300,000-ton ship, the Samho Dream, was on its way from Iraq to the US state of Louisiana with a crew of five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos, the ministry said.

The ministry said it called an emergency meeting to discuss the incident.

"The ship is presumed to have been hijacked by Somali pirates," it said in a statement, adding the government would do its best for the safety of the sailors.

South Korea has an anti-piracy warship patrolling Somali waters because of a rise in hijackings.

Somali pirates, targeting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes, raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.