Yemeni fishermen escape pirate hijack

Yemeni fishermen escape pirate hijack

ADEN, Nov. 24 (Saba) - A group of Yemeni fishermen have escaped a pirate hijack attempt off Aden, the second attack in almost a week.

A source at the Fishermen Association in the Sira district said the fishermen had arrived at the area in critical condition and were being hospitalized.

They told us that Somali pirates attacked them and tried to hijack their boat but they could flee, the source said.

The attack is the second this week after Somali pirates attacked a boat earlier and threw its crew into sea. The crew members were rescued by anti-piracy forces in the Arabian Sea 36 hours after the pirates threw them.

Somali pirates have launched some attacks in the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden in recent weeks. The latest were the hijackings of two cargo ships, one was a Panama-flagged ship seized last week.

The fresh attacks came though the pirates did not step their attacks off Somalia this year after the last year saw a surge with more than 140 vessels attacked, out of which 40 already seized with crews.

The pirates usually demand ransoms for what they take, millions of dollars at most.

In response to the soaring phenomenon off Somalia, many world countries moved sending anti-piracy missions to protect merchant ships along one of the world's busiest waterways where almost 20.000 ships pass a year.