Somali pirates hijacked a Bulgarian-flagged ship MV Panega in the Gulf of Aden as it headed to India, the European Union's naval force said.

In a statement monitored in London, EU Navfor said the MV Panega, with 15 crew and a deadweight of 5,848 tonnes, was seized about 100 nautical miles (185 km or 115 miles) east of the Yemeni port of Aden.

The naval force said it was monitoring the situation and gave no further information.

Hijackings off the coast of Somalia, a chaotic Horn of Africa nation, has earned pirates tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, raised shipping insurance premiums and forced ships to take longer, costlier routes to dodge pirate hotspots. – Reuters