MOGADISHU, Nov 18: Somali pirates hijacked their seventh ship in 12 days on Tuesday, as the US Navy reported that pirates had seized an Iranian cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.

US Navy Commander Jane Campbell of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said the bulk cargo carrier was flying a Hong Kong flag but was operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

The status of the crew or the cargo was not known, she said.

Elsewhere, pirates anchored a hijacked Saudi super-tanker loaded with $100 million in crude oil off the Somali coast on Tuesday, causing residents in impoverished fishing villages to gawk in amazement at the size of the 1,080-foot tanker.

Pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have surged recently, despite the presence of Nato ships, US warships and a Russian frigate all working to prevent piracy in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

International Maritime Bureau on Sunday had reported five hijackings since Nov 7, before the hijackings of the Saudi ship or the Iranian ship were announced.

With few other options, shipowners in past piracy cases have ended up paying ransoms for their ships, cargos and crew.

The US and other naval forces decided against intervention for now. Nato said it would not divert any of its three warships from the Gulf of Aden and the US Navy’s 5th Fleet also said it did not expect to send ships to try to intercept the Saudi super-tanker, the MV Sirius Star.

The tanker was seized over the weekend about 450 nautical miles off the Kenyan coast.

Never before have Somali pirates seized such a giant ship so far out to sea — and never a vessel so large. The captors of the Sirius Star anchored the ship, with a full load of 2 million barrels of oil and 25 crew members, close to a main pirate den on the Somali coast, Harardhere.

“As usual, I woke up at 3am and headed for the sea to fish, but I saw a very, very large ship anchored less than three miles off the shore,” said Abdinur Haji, a fisherman in Harardhere.

“I have been fishing here for three decades, but I have never seen a ship as big as this one,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

“There are dozens of spectators on shore trying to catch a glimpse of the large ship.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal called the hijacking “an outrageous act” and said “piracy, like terrorism, is a disease which is against everybody, and everybody must address it together”.—AP