A suspected pirate ship fired on a Japanese oil tanker Monday off the eastern coast of Yemen, leaving a hole from which several kiloliters (hundreds of gallons) of fuel leaked, officials said. No one was injured.
The 150,000-ton tanker Takayama was attacked about 440 kilometers (270 miles) off the coast of Aden in southwestern Yemen while it was heading for Saudi Arabia, its Japanese operator, Nippon Yusen K.K., said in a statement.
None of its 23 crew members -- seven Japanese and 16 Filipinos -- was injured, the company said. The tanker had left the South Korean port of Ulsan on April 4.
Nippon Yusen spokeswoman Yuko Tsutsui said the attack left a 2-centimeter (1-inch) hole in the tanker's stern, which was temporarily patched after several kiloliters (hundreds of gallons) of fuel leaked.
She said the tanker was heading to Aden for repairs, and its itinerary could change depending on the extent of the damage.
Transportation Ministry official Yoichi Oda said the attackers were believed to be pirates whose motive was not immediately known. The waters in the Red Sea between Yemen and Somali are considered prone to pirate attacks.
Japanese coast guard officials are also investigating the case.
In late October, a Panamanian-registered chemical tanker operated by a Japanese shipping company was seized by pirates in nearby waters off the Somali coast. All but one of its 23 crew members were freed unharmed in mid-December.
More than 260 vessels, including 10 Japanese ships, were attacked by pirates last year worldwide, Oda said, quoting International Maritime Bureau figures. Nearly 40 percent of the pirate attacks occurred off the coast of Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen, where the number of incidents has surged from the previous year.
Kyodo News agency said the Japanese tanker was hit by a rocket fired from a small boat Monday.
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