Panama-flagged freighter disappears off Somali coast

[neocon_2007]

NAIROBI (AFP) - A Panama-flagged cargo vessel has gone missing in Somalia's pirate-infested waters, a Kenyan maritime official said Tuesday.

The MV Infinity Marine 1 disappeared some 37 nautical miles off the northeastern village of Ras Hafun in late June, said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan branch of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme.

"The last time the ship made contact was on June 26. So far, we do not have any information about the crew," he told AFP.

The vessel, sailing from the United Arab Emirates, was carrying general cargo including food stuffs, iron sheet, generators, batteries, white wood and light vehicles.

Four vessels -- one from Taiwan, another from Denmark and two from South Korea -- are already currently in the hands of pirates off the coast of war-torn Somalia.

Last month, maritime officials said a North Korean vessel, MV Sea Prince, also went missing in the Horn of Africa waters after after loading cargo in Djibouti port.

The International Maritime Bureau said this year had seen at least seven pirate attacks off Somalia's 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) of unpatrolled coastline.

Pirate attacks stopped in the second half of 2006 during six months of strict rule by Islamists, who were ousted by Ethiopian and Somali government troops at the end of the year.

Somalia, which lies in a strategic position at the mouth of the Red Sea, has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle.