Somali pirates have captured tanker carrying oil to the US. The Greek-owned Maran Centaurus, believed to be one of the largest ships, was about 1,300km off the coast of Somalia when it was hijacked on Sunday. There are 28 crew members on board including 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and one Romanian. A spokesman for the Greek coastguard told Reuters that about nine armed pirates attacked the ship close to the Seychelles. The EU Naval Taskforce said that the ship which was on its way to New Orleans in the US from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia was now heading towards Somalia. Pirate attacks have been common off the Somali coast and international navies have been deployed to counter them.