The MV Al Marjan, with 22 mostly Asian crew members on board, was seized on Oct. 19 as it sailed to Mogadishu port from the United Arab Emirates port of Dubai.

“We are worried that the ship has cut communication with the owner and the rest of the world,” said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan branch of the Seafarers’ Assistance Program.

“This is the second week since it cut communication, which means there are no negotiations going. This is a very bad indicator on the fate of the crew,” he said.

The freighter is owned by Shahmir Maritime of Saint Vincent and Grenadines, but operated by Dubai-based Biyat International.

Mwangura explained that “cutting communication” between the pirated vessels and the outside world in the past has been an indication that “something bad” has happened onboard.

“When pirates killed a sailor in Ching Fong Hwa 168, they cut communication. That is why we are worried this time round,” he said.

Ching Fong Hwa 168 was a Taiwanese-flagged ship seized by pirates in June before being released on Nov. 5. One crew member was killed and another injured.

Mwangura said negotiations were underway to free Japanese tanker, Golden Nori — believed to be carrying benzene — that was kidnapped on Oct. 28 with 23 crew members from Myanmar, Philippines and South Korea. Their condition is unknown.

The vessel was sailing from Singapore to Israel when its was seized.

“I expect that the pirates will ask for ransom of more than a million dollars to free the tanker,” he told AFP.

Mwangura explained that the size of ransom normally depends on the cost, type and ownership of the cargo, the value and nationality of the ship as well as the nationality of the crew.

The Danish freighter, Danica White, was freed in August after nearly three months in the Somali coast after 1.5 million dollar ransom was paid.

The U.S. Navy patrolling the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden waters has urged the pirates to abandon the vessels.

Rampant piracy off Somalia stopped in the second half of 2006 but resumed when an Islamist movement that had enforced strict rule was ousted by Ethiopian and Somali transitional government troops at the end of the year.

Several attacks have occurred this year off Somalia’s 3,700 kilometers of unpatrolled coastline, prompting the International Maritime Bureau to advise sailors to steer clear from the coastline.

Somalia lies at the mouth of the Red Sea — on a major trade route between Asia and Europe via the Suez canal — and has lacked a functional government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

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