FACTBOX-Ships held by Somali pirates

Here is a list of ships held by Somali pirates after a German merchant vessel, Beluga Fortune, was released. [ID:nLDE69O1YF]

* SOCOTRA 1: Seized on Dec. 25, 2009. The Yemeni-owned ship was captured in the Gulf of Aden after it left the port of Alshahr in Yemen. Six Yemeni crew.

* AL NISR AL SAUDI: Seized on March 1, 2010. The Saudi-owned 5,136-dwt tanker was on its way from Japan to Jeddah with one Greek and 13 Sri Lankan crew members.

* ICEBERG 1: Seized on March 29, Roll-on roll-off vessel taken 10 miles from the port of Aden. 24 crew.

* AL-BARARI: Seized on March 31. The small Indian trade boat was captured after it left Mogadishu. 11 crew.

* SAMHO DREAM: Seized on April 4. The 319,000-dwt Samho Dream was en route to the United States from Iraq when it was hijacked 970 miles east of Somalia. The Marshall Islands-registered ship is South Korean-owned, had a crew of five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos and carried 2 million barrels of crude oil. On April 21, Somali pirates threatened to blow up the supertanker unless a $20 million ransom was paid.

* RAK AFRIKANA: Seized on April 11. The St Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged 7,561-dwt cargo ship was hijacked about 280 miles west of the Seychelles. Owned by Seychelles' Rak Afrikana Shipping Ltd.

* Three Thai fishing vessels -- PRANTALAY 11, 12 and 14 -- were hijacked on April 17-18 with a total of 77 crew.

* AL-DHAFIR: Seized on May 7. Yemeni fishing boat seized off Yemen. 7 crew.

* MARIDA MARGUERITE: Seized on May 8. The chemical tanker en route from Kandla in Gujarat to Antwerp in Belgium was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden with crew of 22 -- 19 Indians, two Bangladeshis and one Ukrainian.

* ELENI P: Seized on May 12. The Liberia-flagged and Greek-owned ship, carrying iron and sailing from Ukraine to China via Singapore was seized in the Gulf of Aden. Crew of 2 Greeks and 22 Filipinos.

* GOLDEN BLESSING: Seized on June 28. The 14,445-dwt Singapore-registered chemical tanker was seized off East Africa on its way from Saudi Arabia to India. 19 Chinese crew.

* MOTIVATOR: Seized on July 4. A 13,065-dwt tanker, hijacked in the Red Sea, with 18 Filipino crew and carrying lubricating oil. It is Marshall Islands-flagged.

* SUEZ: Seized on Aug. 2. The Panama-flagged cargo ship was hijacked in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden. The ship was carrying cement bags and had a crew of 23 from Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.

* OLIB G: Seized on Sept. 8: Maltese-flagged merchant vessel seized in the IRTC. 18 crew -- 15 Georgians and 3 Turks.

* LUGELA: Seized on Sept. 25/26: The Greek-operated 4,281-dwt cargo ship had a crew of 12 Ukrainians. It was sailing to Mauritius with a cargo of steel bars and wires.

* ASPHALT VENTURE: Seized on Sept. 29: The 3,884-dwt bitumen carrier was heading to Durban from Mombasa. 15 Indian crew. Managed by Mumbai-based Omci Ship Management Pvt and owned by Bitumen Invest AS of United Arab Emirates.

* FENG-GUO 168: Seized on Oct. 7: Fishing vessel, believed to be Taiwanese, seized 200 miles north of Mauritius. 14 crew.

* GOLDEN WAVE: Seized on Oct. 9. The South-Korean fishing vessel Golden Wave -- formerly known as Keummi 305 -- had a crew of 39 Kenyans, two Koreans and two Chinese.

* IZUMI: Seized on Oct. 10: The Izumi, operated by NYK-Hinode Line Ltd, The Panama-flagged ship was en route to Mombasa with a cargo of steel. 20 Filipino crew.

* YORK: Seized on Oct. 23: The Singapore-flagged, Greek managed, LPG tanker was seized 50 miles from Mombasa. The European naval force, EU Navfor, said the vessel had a crew of 17 -- a German master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos. The 5,076-dwt York was sailing empty after discharging her LPG cargo at the Shimanzi oil terminal in Mombasa.

Sources: Reuters/Ecoterra International/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net/www.eunavfor.eu (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)