Hijacked Ship with Bulgarians Aboard Reaches Somalia Coast

The British-flagged ship Asian Glory, which was seized off Somalia late Friday with eight Bulgarians aboard, has reached the coast.

This has been announced by Prodan Radanov from Zodiac company, which hired the Bulgarian sailors.

Negotiations for their release has not started yet, Radanov added.

The British-flagged Asian Glory was seized off Somalia late Friday, the European Union naval force said. The nationality of the pirates was unclear, because the hijacking happened outside of the force's operations area, it said.

The Asian Glory is owned by London-based Zodiac Maritime Agencies, according to Lloyd's Register of Ships. Zodiac also owns another vessel that was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, the British-flagged chemical tanker St. James Park, according to the company's Web site.

The St. James Park has a crew of 26, consisting of Bulgarians, Filipinos, Georgians, Indians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Turks and Ukrainians, the EU naval force said.

The vessel had arrived at the Somali port of Hobyo, a pirate stronghold, the naval force said Saturday.

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