A Taiwanese fishing vessel has gone missing off Madagascar and is assumed to have been taken by Somali pirates, the European Union's anti-piracy mission said Thursday. "During the morning of December 25, the Taiwanese-owned fishing vessel FV Shiuh Fu No 1 reported being under pirate attack, approximately 120 nautical miles off the north-east tip of the island of Madagascar," dpa quoted the EU's Operation Atalanta as saying in a statement. Atalanta is the name of the mission carried out by the EU's naval force (EU-NAVFOR), based at the British naval base of Northwood. "No further communication with the vessel has been possible since the attack, but strong indications are that FV Shiuh Fu No 1 has been pirated," the statement read. The ship is manned by 26 seamen from China, Taiwan and Vietnam, the statement said. The ship radioed for help on Christmas morning, saying that it was being chased by a skiff. That is a tactic typically used by Somali pirates, who put to sea in larger vessels towing a number of small, fast boats, and then release those speed-boats, heavily armed, once they sight a target. Radio contact was lost after the sighting.
