Somali pirates have hijacked a German-owned tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas in the Gulf of Aden, according to a maritime group. Thursday's hijacking brings to three the number of ships to be taken off the Horn of Africa this year.

Andrew Mwangura of East African sSeafarer Assistant Program, said, "We had information that a German ship was hijacked today at about 1230GMT off the coast of Somalia within the Gulf of Aden. The ship was hijacked by gunmen and currently she is heading to the Somali coast. By the time of hijacking she was heading to Faiz from Europe fully loaded with LPG. This is a LPG carrier and the name of the ship is Longchamp."

Mwangura says the tanker has one Indonesian and 12 Filipinos onboard and has a capacity of 34-hundred tons. The ship is managed by a German company and is registered in Bahamas. The company issued a statement saying seven pirates boarded the tanker early on Thursday. The ship's captain was briefly allowed to contact their office and the crew are safe. No ransom demands have been made, so far.

(CCTV January 30, 2009)