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MOGADISHU: The captain of a chemical tanker captured by Somali pirates this week off the Seychelles with 28 North Koreans on board has died of his wounds after being shot, a pirate told AFP Wednesday.
"The captain has passed away due to the injuries he sustained earlier," said Abdi Mohamoud Samatar, a pirate close to the gang which captured the MV Theresa VIII on Monday.
"He died of gunshot wounds," Samatar added.
It was not immediately clear whether the captain, whose nationality is as yet unknown, sustained injuries during Monday's hijacking or after the vessel was seized.
"He was taken to Harardhere to get medical attention and was again returned to the ship while he was in bad condition," Samatar explained, referring to a coastal village in northern Somalia.
The tanker was hijacked some 180 nautical miles northwest of the Indian Ocean archipelago.
It was headed to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, but the pirates turned it around and headed north, the European Union's anti-piracy mission in the region said Tuesday.
The Virgin Islands-owned freighter is operated from Singapore.
Most of the attacks against foreign vessels by Somali pirates in the past month were carried out in or around the Seychelles exclusive economic zone.
The world's naval powers last year started deploying warships in the Gulf of Aden in an attempt to curb attacks by ransom-hunting pirates that were seen as a threat to one of the globe's most crucial maritime trade routes.
Pirate groups have since shifted their focus to the wider Indian Ocean, a huge area much more difficult to patrol, and started venturing as far as the Seychelles and beyond.
Earlier Wednesday, gunmen attacked but failed to capture the US-flagged Maersk Alabama freighter some 350 nautical miles east of the lawless Horn of Africa, the EUNAVFOR mission said in a statement.
"The crew managed to repel the attack and no casualties were reported," it said, adding that a patrol aircraft from Djibouti was sent to investigate.
In April, Somali pirates seized the Danish-operated container ship but were overpowered in a tussle with its 20-strong crew. The attackers however captured the skipper, Richard Phillips, and held him captive on a lifeboat.
His five-day ordeal was ended when elite US Navy SEAL commandos shot dead three of his captors and captured a fourth, a teenager who is facing trial in New York.
A week after the attack, the company's chief executive said it would reroute vessels to avoid the Red Sea and travel around South Africa's southern tip, citing concern for "the safety and security of our crews".
- AFP/yb
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