Ahmedabad/New Delhi, March 30: Nearly 100 Indian sailors have been captured and seven dhows seized by pirates off Somalia’s coast, a shipping association today said.
“Around Saturday afternoon we got information that seven of our vessels were hijacked by Somalian pirates in mid-sea,” Kutch Vahanvati Association (KVA) president Kasam Ali Bholim told.
“Over 80-100 crew members of these vessels have been captured. We have already approached the port authorities and the Director General Shipping in this regard,” he said.
“They are trying to locate the ships and make contact with the pirates. But nothing has materialised till now,” the head of the 140-member KVA said.
“We have lost all communication with the vessel crew.
Neither have the pirates made contact with us. We are just waiting for information about the vessels,” he said.
Bholim said five vessels are from Kutch while two others are from Porbander and Veraval.
–Agencies