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SEOUL : A South Korean warship has caught up with a supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates but is keeping its distance from the vessel for the sake of the crew's safety, officials said Tuesday.
The destroyer has tracked down the 300,000-tonne South Korean tanker Samho Dream, which is heading for Somali waters, a foreign ministry official said.
"At around 1:20 am (16:20 GMT Monday), the destroyer... arrived in waters where the Samho Dream was sailing and she is now operating near the tanker," he told reporters on condition of anonymity.
"The hijacked vessel is now moving towards Somalia."
A defence ministry official was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying the warship was staying about 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the Samho Dream for fear of endangering its crew of five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos.
The tanker, carrying an undisclosed amount of crude oil, was seized Sunday on its way from Iraq to the US state of Louisiana.
The 4,500-tonne South Korean destroyer, which was in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy operations with about 300 soldiers on board, was ordered to move towards it.
A spokesman for tanker owners Samho Shipping said there had been no word from either the crew or hijackers since Sunday, after the ship sent a distress call to the South Korean destroyer saying three pirates had boarded it.
The foreign ministry has said the Seoul government would not engage in any negotiations with the pirates and would leave it to the ship's owner.
Somali pirates, targeting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes, raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.
A South Korean tuna ship with 25 crew was hijacked by Somali pirates in April 2006. The ship and its crew were released after four months when a ransom was paid.
In 2007 Somali pirates seized two South Korean vessels and 24 crew. The crew were released after six months in captivity.
Pirates also hijacked a South Korean cargo ship with 22 sailors in September 2008. The crew were released after the ship's owner paid a ransom.
- AFP/il
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