S Korea tanker with 24 crew hijacked off Somalia

A South Korean oil tanker with 24 crew members was hijacked on Sunday off the coast of Somalia, apparently by pirates, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

A South Korean oil tanker with 24 crew members was hijacked on Sunday off the coast of Somalia, apparently by pirates, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

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The 300,000-ton ship, the Samho Dream, was on its way from Iraq to the US state of Louisiana with a crew of five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos, the ministry said, according to a report by Yonhap news agency.

Officials were not immediately available for comment.

The ministry called an emergency meeting to discuss the incident, Yonhap said.

South Korea has an anti-piracy warship patrolling Somali waters because of a rise in hijackings.

Somali pirates, targeting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes, raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.