Dutch ship 'hijacked' off Somalia

A Dutch cargo ship is reported to have been hijacked by pirates off Somalia.

The MV Amiya Scan, with a crew of nine, was seized after leaving the Kenyan port of Mombasa on 19 May, reports say.

The ship is believed to have been bound for the Romanian port of Constanta, said Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme in Kenya.

More than 25 ships were seized off the Somali coast last year, despite patrols by an international maritime force based in Djibouti.

"The ship was hijacked in international waters in the Gulf of Aden," the ship's owners, Dutch Reider Shipping, said in a statement sent to AFP news agency.

It said the crew were four Russian officers and five Filipino seamen.

Mr Mwangura said there had been no ransom demand as yet.

On Friday, Somali pirates released a Jordanian-flagged vessel they had hijacked a week before.