Pirates looted ship off Angola, maintain owners

[ATHENS] The Greek owners of an oil tanker that vanished off the Angolan coast on Jan 18 say pirates hijacked the vessel and stole a large quantity of cargo, contradicting the Angolan navy's denial that such an assault took place.

Greece-based Dynacom, owners of the 75,000 deadweight tonne Liberian- flagged tanker MT Kerala, said it had managed to contact crew on the vessel who reported the pirates had left. "Pirates hijacked the vessel offshore Angola and stole a large quantity of cargo by ship-to-ship transfer. The pirates have now disembarked," the company said in a statement on Sunday. It did not provide any further details on the attack or the ship's current location but added that all crew were safe.

Dynacom's version of the events contradicted an account from the Angolan navy, which alleged the crew had turned off the ship's communications to fake a pirate attack.