Pirates attack Hanjin containership

Pirates attack Hanjin containership    Hanjin Shipping said one of its container vessels was attacked by pirates near the Gulf of Aden early Thursday morning.
   The 6,500-TEU Hanjin Tianjin was heading eastbound to Singapore from Europe when the attack occurred. The Tianjin is deployed on the CKYH Alliance's NE5 service between Asia and Europe.
   The attack occurred about 400 miles east of the Horn of Africa, and about 250 miles east of Socotra, an island archipelago that's part of Yemen. The line said the ship and her crew were rescued later Thursday by special forces aboard the South Korean warship Choi Young, which is part of a multinational force patrolling pirate-infested waters off Somalia. The crew aboard the Hanjin vessel included 14 Indonesians and six Koreans.
   'We have been informed that the pirates were not found at the scene,' Hanjin said in a statement. 'There was some damage done to the ship by the pirates’ first and second attacks. Our crew stopped the engine to hold the ship and hid in the citadel (a protected cabin within the ship) to protect themselves from the pirate attack.'
   Earlier Thursday, a South Korean foreign ministry spokesman said the ship was feared hijacked and that the Choi Young was speeding to the scene to assist the Hanjin vessel.