Pirates Seize Three Thai Ships

Somali pirates snatched 77 Thai fishermen Tuesday, their largest single hostage seizure, in an area of the Indian Ocean well outside the zone protected by an international anti-piracy mission.

Somali pirates on Sunday freed a Thai fishing trawler, hijacked off east Africa in October last year, after the payment of a ransom, the EU's anti-piracy mission said.

Somali pirates on Sunday freed a Thai fishing trawler, which was hijacked off east Africa in October last year, after the payment of a ransom, the EU's anti-piracy mission said.

Four suspected Somali pirates seized a bulk carrier with 21 crew on board, the fourth ship pirates have captured in less than a week.

Pirates have seized a chemical tanker in the south Somali Basin with 28 North Koreans aboard, the EU's anti-piracy mission in the region said in a statement Tuesday."On November 16 a Virgin Islands owned (operated from Singapore) Chemical Tanker named the MV Theresa VIII was hijacked in the south Somali Basin, 180 nautical miles North West of the Seychelles," EUNAVFOR said."Theresa VIII has a deadweight of 22,294 tonnes and a crew of 28 North Koreans. The vessel, which was heading for Mombasa (Kenya), has turned around and is now heading north," the short statement said.

A NATO warship has sunk a mothership used to ferry gangs of pirates in the seas off the coast of Somalia, an alliance spokesman said Monday.The Absalon, flagship of the Royal Danish navy, "disputed a piracy attack in the Somali basin on Sunday and then scuttled a mothership," the NATO spokesman said.Such ships are key to the pirates' policy of moving their attack teams into an area from which they can launch their raids on passing vessels.

A maritime watchdog said Somali pirates have hijacked a U.K.-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden.