Somali Pirates Sail With Spanish Tuna Seiner Deeper Into Indian Oceanff

Pirates holding hostages on a Spanish purse seiner off the coast of Somalia are sailing deeper into the Indian Ocean after local residents threatened them, local witnesses said Thursday.

The pirates took supplies from the port town of Haradere and sailed off headed for the deep ocean about 100 miles from the coastal area of Gaan, said an elder who asked not to be named.

”Maybe they got rumors that Islamic fighters in the region were preparing to attack,” the elder added.

”We did not see the boat when we went for fishing today, I think they (pirates) moved to another place after getting threats from locals,” Abduqadir Ahmed, a local fisherman, told AFP by phone from Haradere.

He added that the pirates took supplies -food and medecine- on Wednesday night, an indication that they were planning to move.

The 76-metre-long (250-foot-long) Playa de Bakio with its crew of 13 Spaniards and 13 Africans was seized while fishing for tuna in the waters off Somalia on Sunday by pirates armed with grenade launchers.

The pirates are believed to be seeking a ransom although the Spanish government said Wednesday they had not yet made any formal demands for the release of the crew.

Spain’s ambassador to Kenya, Nicolas Martin Cinto, first held talks over the hijacking with Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein on Wednesday in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

A Spanish frigate, the Mendez Nunez, is heading in the Indian Ocean towards the area where the seiner was hijacked, the government statement said.

Spain’s defense ministry has also dispatched a reconnaissance plane from Madrid to Djibouti, which neighbors Somalia.

Several crew members of the boat who have spoken to family members in Spain by telephone in recent days have said that all of the hostages were well.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos refused to answer questions about the ship’s whereabouts at a press conference on Wednesday but press reports said it had docked off the town of Gaan in northeastern Somalia.

The coastal waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity, are considered to be among the most dangerous waterways for shipping in the world.

Last year more than 25 ships were seized by pirates in Somali coastal waters despite US navy patrols, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

It advises merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the country’s coast.