The crew of a Libyan-owned ship have wrested back control of their vessel from pirates as another boat was seized, dpa quoted the European Union's anti-piracy mission as saying today. One crew member was seriously injured during the struggle and several pirates were believed dead, EU NAVFOR said in a statement on its website. An EU warship was heading to the MV RIM, which was taken in early February, to give medical assistance. In a separate incident, pirates took control of the Panama-flagged MV QSM Dubai, with a 24-member crew comprising Egyptian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Ghanaian nationals, EU NAVFOR said. Piracy is rife off the Horn of Africa nation of Somalia, which has not had an effective central government since 1991. Heavily-armed gangs take to the seas in search of multimillion-dollar ransoms despite the presence of a fleet of international warships, which were sent to region following a spike in pirate attacks in late 2008. However, the pirates have expanded their operations from the Gulf of Aden - one of the world's busiest waterways - into the Indian Ocean to avoid the patrols.
