SOMALI pirates have hijacked the German containership, the Hansa Stavanger, in the Indian Ocean, as well as attacking an Israeli Zim box ship that escaped.

"The German ship was taken 400 nautical miles off the Somali coast, between Kenya and the Seychelles," said Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme in Kenya, reported AFP.

A crew of 24 were reported aboard the ship, including two Ukrainians, three Russians and 14 Filipinos. The captain of the container vessel is a German, reported The Kiev Post.

Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the Maritime Bulletin-Sovfracht, told the Interfax news agency, "There is a warship belonging to an EU country not far from the vessel, most probably a German one," he said. "It''s possible the warship will use force in order to free the vessel."

According to a report posted on the Sovfracht website, the German ship was transporting containers with Asian goods via the Middle East to eastern Africa.

"On board the container vessel there are hundreds of containers worth tens of millions of dollars. We are expecting consequences. Nothing of this sort has happened before, and nobody knows how this will turn out," said Mr Voitenko.

The containership was travelling from Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates to the Kenyan Port of Mombasa. It was expected to arrive at Mombasa April 5 and at Dar es Salaam April 10.

In the 48 hours since the German containership was hijacked, at least five more vessels were reported hijacked, including a British cargo ship and a Taiwanese fishing vessel, said Newark''s Journal of Commerce.

It said that as many as 17 ships and more than 250 hostages are currently held by pirates. A containership operated by Zim was also attacked, 700 kilometres off the coast of East Africa. The Israeli navy was contacted and a British jet was dispatched to the scene.