Update: Danish Ship Siezed By Somali Ship Identified As Maersk Alabama, Part Of US Maritime Security Program

April 8, 2009 6:55 a.m. EST

Mogadishu, Somalia (AHN) - The Danish-owned, U.S.-operated container vessel seized Wednesday morning by Somali pirates has been identified as being the Maersk Alabama, a boxship that is part of the U.S. Maritime Security Program (MSP).

Lloyd's List is reporting that security personnel, who don't want to be identified, supplied the identity of the hijacked ship..

The MSP subsidizes 47 U.S.-flagged merchant vessels that are what Lloyd's List refers to as "militarily useful," and a part of a policy that supports U.S. ship owners and the employment of U.S. sailors.

Maersk Line Ltd in the U.S. owns and operates the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama, according to Lloyd's List.

Pirates hijacked the 17,000 ton vessel with a crew of 21 Americans in the Indian Ocean 400 miles off the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to the European Union's Maritime Security Centre.

A statement posted on the Maritime Security Centre Website stated that all 21 crew members are believed to be safe.

It was the third ship seized by pirates this week.

And this isn't the first time a Danish vessel has been hijacked by pirates. In January, after ransom was paid, pirates finally freed a Danish ship with a Russian crew that they had seized two months earlier.