FACTBOX: 25 Ships and Crews Still Held by Somali Pirates

Somali pirates have released the Marida Marguerite, a German-operated chemical tanker after receiving a $5.5 million ransom, the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program said on Tuesday. The tanker was seized in May and released on Monday.

Here are details of ships held by Somali pirates:
— SOCOTRA 1: Seized on Dec. 25, 2009 in the Gulf of Aden. Yemeni-owned ship has six Yemeni crew.
— ICEBERG 1: Seized on March 29, 2010. Roll-on roll-off vessel taken 10 miles from Aden; 24 crew.
— JIH-CHUN TSAI 68: Taiwanese fishing vessel seized on March 30. 14 crew: Taiwanese captain, two Chinese and 11 Indonesians.
— RAK AFRIKANA: Seized on April 11. The St Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged 7,561-dwt cargo ship was taken 280 miles west of Seychelles.
— Three Thai fishing vessels — PRANTALAY 11, 12 and 14 — hijacked on April 17-18. 77 crew.
— TAI YUAN 227: Taiwanese fishing boat seized on May 6: 24 crew — nine Chinese, three Vietnamese, three Filipinos, seven Kenyans and two from Mozambique.
— AL-DHAFIR: Seized on May 7. Fishing boat seized off Yemen. Seven Yemeni crew.
— MOTIVATOR: Seized on July 4. Marshall Islands-flagged 13,065-dwt tanker hijacked in Red Sea. 18 Filipino crew.
— SUEZ: Seized on Aug. 2. Panama-flagged cargo ship hijacked in the Gulf of Aden. Carrying cement. 23 crew from Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
— OLIB G: Seized on Sept. 8. Maltese-flagged merchant vessel with 18 crew — 15 Georgians, three Turks.
— ASPHALT VENTURE: Seized on Sept. 29: The 3,884-dwt bitumen carrier was heading to Durban from Mombasa. 15 Indian crew.
— GOLDEN WAVE: Seized on Oct. 9. South Korean fishing vessel with 43 crew: 39 Kenyans, two Koreans and two Chinese.
— IZUMI: Seized on Oct. Panama-flagged ship was en route to Mombasa with cargo of steel. 20 Filipino crew.
— YORK: Seized on Oct. 23: Singapore-flagged, Greek managed, 5,076-dwt LPG tanker seized 50 miles from Mombasa. Ship empty after discharging cargo in Mombasa. 17 crew — German master, two Ukrainians, 14 Filipinos.
— CHOIZIL: Seized on Oct. 26. South-African owned yacht was hijacked after leaving Dar es Salaam. European Union anti-piracy task force rescued one South African but two other crew members were taken ashore as hostages.
— AL-NASSR: Seized Oct. 28. Motorized dhow captured off Yemeni island of Socotra.
— POLAR: Seized on Oct 30: Liberian-owned Panama-flagged 72,825 ton tanker seized 580 miles east of Socotra. 24 crew — one Romanian, three Greeks, four Montenegrins, 16 Filipinos.
— ALY ZULFECAR: Seized on Nov. 2. Comorian passenger boat was taken inside Tanzania’s territorial waters. Nine crew — one Tanzanian, four Comorians, four from Madagascar. Also 12 Tanzanian and 8 Comorian passengers.
— HANNIBAL II: Seized on Nov. 11. Panama-flagged chemical tanker was taken 860 miles east of Horn of Africa. The 24,105-tonne vessel was sailing to Suez from Malaysia carrying vegetable oil. 31 crew — 23 Tunisians, four Filipinos, a Croat, a Georgian, a Russian and a Moroccan.
— YUAN XIANG: Seized on Nov. 12. Chinese-owned cargo ship captured off Oman. 29 Chinese crew.
— ALBEDO: Seized on Nov. 26. Malaysian-owned cargo vessel was taken 900 miles off Somalia as it headed for Mombasa from UAE. 23 crew — from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran.
— JAHAN MONI: Seized on Dec. 5. Merchant ship was 1,300 miles east of Somalia en route from Indonesia to Greece via Singapore carrying nickel ore. 26 crew.
— PANAMA: Seized on Dec. 10: Liberian-flagged container ship en route from Tanzania to Beira. 23 crew from Myanmar.
— RENUAR: Seized on Dec. 11: Liberian-owned bulk cargo vessel, 70,156 dwt, captured en route to Fujairah from Port Louis. 24 Filipino crew.
— ORNA: Seized on Dec. 20: The Panama-flagged bulk cargo vessel, 27,915 dwt, owned by the United Arab Emirates, was seized 400 miles northeast of the Seychelles.
— THOR NEXUS: Seized on Dec. 25. Thai-registered 20,377-dwt bulk carrier was hijacked 350 miles off Oman. 27 crew, all Thai.

Sources: Reuters/Ecoterra International/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer: www.eunavfor.eu.net

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Andrew Dobbie)