Pirates hijack ship with 18 Filipinos in Red Sea

Pirates have hijacked a Marshall-flagged chemical tanker carrying 18 Filipino sailors in the southern Red Sea, the EU anti-piracy mission said yesterday.

The MT Motivator reported coming under small arms fire from pirates early Sunday in the northern Bab-Al-Mandeb area, the strait between the Arabian peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the EU NavFor mission said in a statement.

"After notification of this attack, attempts were made to make contact with the Motivator but to no avail. The hijack was confirmed early on July 5," the statement said.

The ship, with a deadweight of 13,065 tonnes, is a chemical products tanker loaded with lubricating oil.

Since 2008, an international flotilla of warships has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the globe's busiest maritime trade routes, to stop Somali pirates from hijacking commercial vessels.

Heavily armed pirates using speedboats operate in the Gulf of Aden where they prey on ships, sometimes holding vessels for weeks before releasing them for large ransoms paid by governments or ship-owners.