LTTE terrorists maraud a Jordon ship in distress - Mulaithiuvu
 A
maritime distress message released by a Jordon merchant vessel "Faraha
III" this morning indicated that the ship is under an armed pirate
attack in Mulaithiuvu Sea, the naval sources said.
The message originally received by the Maritime
Rescuing Coordinating Centre, Falmouth in UK , said that a group of
armed pirates had got onboard the ship around 3.30a.m (Saturday the 23rd
of December) and began marauding the ship's cargo.
The Naval sources added that these "armed pirates"
mentioned by the ship's crew must be none other than the LTTE terrorists
since the ship had drifted towards the LTTE dominated coast in North-
Eastern Sri Lanka. The present location of the ship is 3 Nautical miles
east of Mulaithivu.
According to the information received by the SL Navy
authorities the ship had met with a technical failure two days ago and
has been drifting towards the coast. It was also learnt that the 150
meters long merchant ship was carrying 14,000 tons of rice from Kakinada,
India to Durban in South Africa when it was disabled and attacked by the
pirates.
When contacted the local agent of the ship- Malship
Ceylon Limited, said that the ship had a crew of 25 sailors from Jordan
and Egypt. The company further added that a "tug' has already been sent
from Colombo to avoid the ship being grounded.
However, the naval sources said that no "tug" had
reached the location so far. All attempts made by the navy to establish
radio communication with the ship have also been unsuccessful.
"The ship is surrounded by LTTE boats, we cannot use
fire power against them since such action may endanger the safety of the
ship's crew", the sources further added.
Both the SLMM and the Jordanian Embassy in India are
informed about the situation. The situation is being closely monitored
by SL Navy and Air Force units.
Meanwhile, pro LTTE websites announced that the LTTE
had captured the 25 sailors along with the ship's cargo as it drifted in
to its area.
The distress message of Faraha III relayed to SL Navy
from Maritime Rescuing Coordinating Centre and the a video footage of
the ship obtained by SL Air Force are shown below
View Video
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