As many as 30 ships were being held by the Somali pirates until March 17 this year, reports Reuters. Here are the details:
SOCOTRA 1: Seized on Dec 25, 2009 in the Gulf of Aden. Yemeni-owned ship with six Yemeni crew.
ICEBERG 1: Seized on March 29, 2010. Roll-on roll-off vessel with 24 crew captured 10 miles off Aden.
JIH-CHUN TSAI 68: Seized on March 30, 2010. Taiwanese fishing vessel with 14 crew: Taiwanese captain, two Chinese and 11 Indonesians.
PRANTALAY 11, 12 and 14 -- hijacked on April 17-18, 2010. Thai fishing vessels with 77 crew.
AL-DHAFIR: Seized on May 7, 2010 off Yemen. Fishing boat with seven Yemeni crew.
SUEZ: Seized on Aug 2, 2010 in the Gulf of Aden. Panama-flagged cargo ship carrying cement. Twenty-three crew from Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
OLIB G: Seized on Sept 8, 2010. Maltese-flagged merchant vessel with 18 crew -- 15 Georgians, three Turks.
ASPHALT VENTURE: Seized on Sept 29, 2010: The 3,884-dwt bitumen carrier was heading to Durban from Mombasa with 14 Indian crew.
CHOIZIL: Seized on Oct 26, 2010 after leaving Dar es Salaam. South-African-owned yacht. European Union anti-piracy taskforce rescued one South African but two other crewmembers were taken ashore and held as hostages.
AL-NASSR: Seized on Oct 28, 2010. Motorised dhow captured off Yemeni island of Socotra.
POLAR: Seized on Oct 30, 2010: Liberian-owned Panama-flagged 72,825-tonne tanker seized 580 miles east of Socotra. Twenty-four crew -- one Romanian, three Greeks, four Montenegrins, 16 Filipinos.
YUAN XIANG: Seized on Nov 12, 2010 off Oman. Chinese-owned cargo ship with 29 Chinese crew.
ALBEDO: Seized on Nov 26, 2010. Malaysian-owned cargo vessel was taken 900 miles off Somalia as it headed for Mombasa from the UAE. Twenty-three crew from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran.
PANAMA: Seized on Dec 10, 2010. Liberian-flagged container ship en route from Tanzania to Beira. All 23 crew are from Myanmar.
RENUAR: Seized on Dec 11, 2010: Liberian-owned bulk cargo vessel captured en route to Fujairah from Port Louis. All 24 crew are Filipinos.
ORNA: Seized on Dec 20, 2010. Panama-flagged bulk cargo vessel owned by the UAE, was seized 400 miles northeast of the Seychelles.
THOR NEXUS: Seized on Dec 25, 2010: Thai-registered 20,377-dwt bulk carrier was hijacked 350 miles off Oman. All 27 crew are from Thailand.
SHIUH FU NO 1: Seized Dec 25, 2010: Somali pirates appeared to have seized the Taiwanese-owned fishing vessel near the northeast tip of Madagascar. It had 26 Taiwanese, Chinese and Vietnamese crew.
VEGA 5: Seized before Dec 31, 2010 about 200 miles southwest of the Comoros. The Mozambican-flagged fishing vessel had two Spaniards, three Indonesians and 19 Mozambicans on board.
BLIDA: Seized on Jan 1, 2011 about 150 miles southeast of Salalah. The Algerian-flagged bulk carrier with 27 crew from Algeria, Ukraine and the Philippines was heading to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
EAGLE: Seized on Jan 17, 2011: The Greek-owned merchant vessel was en route to India from Jordan. It had 24 Filipino crew.
HOANG SON SUN: Seized on Jan 19, 2011 about 520 nautical miles southeast of Muscat: The bulk carrier, which is Vietnamese-owned, had 24 Vietnamese crew.
BELUGA NOMINATION: Seized on Jan 22, 2011. The cargo ship was boarded about 800 miles off the Seychelles. It is Antigua and Barbuda flagged with a Polish captain and seven Filipino, two Russian and two Ukrainian seamen.
SAVINA CAYLYN: Seized on Feb 8, 2011 about 670 miles east of Socotra Island. The Italian-flagged and owned tanker had five Italians and 17 Indians on board.
IRENE SL: Seized on Feb 9, 2011 off the coast of Oman: The oil tanker was carrying about 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti crude oil. The Greek-owned and flagged tanker had seven Greek, 17 Filipino and one Georgian crew.
SININ: Seized on Feb 12, 2011: The Maltese owned and registered bulk carrier was seized with a crew of 13 Iranian and 10 Indian nationals in the North Arabian Sea.
ALFARDOUS: Seized on Feb 13, 2011: The Yemeni fishing vessel was believed to have been pirated close to Socotra Island and has a crew of eight.
DOVER: Seized on Feb 28, 2011 about 260 nautical miles off Salalah. The Panamanian flagged, Greek owned vessel had three Romanian, one Russian and 19 Filipino crew.