FACTBOX: Ships held by Somali pirates

(Reuters) - Pirates have seized an Indian dhow off the coast of Somalia, a regional maritime official said on Monday.

Also on Monday, the Greek owner of bulk carrier Red Sea Spirit, which Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said in November was hijacked by pirates, has denied the incident.

Here is a list of ships under the control of Somali pirates:

WIN FAR 161: Taiwanese tuna boat, seized on April 6, 2009.

KOTA WAJAR: Seized on October 15, 2009. The 24,637-tonne container ship, seized 300 miles north of Seychelles, was heading for Mombasa from Singapore and had 21 crew on board.

DE XIN HAI - Seized on October 19, 2009. The Chinese vessel carried about 76,000 tons of coal and 25 Chinese crew and was hijacked in the Indian Ocean 700 miles off Somalia. It is owned by the Qingdao Ocean Shipping Co.

AL KHALIQ - Seized on October 22, 2009. The Panamanian-registered ship carried 26 crew, 24 of them Indian. It is owned and operated by SNP Shipping of Mumbai. The 38,305 dwt bulk carrier was seized west of the Seychelles.

LYNN RIVAL - Seized October 2009. A British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, were sailing to Tanzania on their 38-ft yacht when they were seized.

THAI UNION 3 - Seized on October 29, 2009. Pirates on two skiffs boarded the tuna fishing boat with 23 Russians, two Filipinos and two Ghanaians on board.

DELVINA - Seized on November 5, 2009. The bulk carrier had 21 crew on board from Ukraine and the Philippines and had a cargo of wheat. It was seized northwest of Madagascar.

FILITSA: Seized on November 10, 2009. The 23,709 dwt cargo ship had a crew including three Greek officers and the rest Filipinos. The Marshall Islands-flagged ship had been heading from Kuwait to Durban, South Africa, when it was attacked 500 miles northeast of the Seychelles.

THERESA VIII: Seized on November 16, 2009. The chemical tanker was hijacked in the south Somali Basin, northwest of the Seychelles. The 22,294 dwt tanker had a crew of 28 North Koreans. The captain of the tanker died from gunshot wounds sustained during the hijack, a Somali pirate said.

MARAN CENTAURUS: Seized Nov 29, 2009: The tanker was sailing from Kuwait to the Gulf of Mexico when it was seized near the Seychelles. The tanker had nine Greeks, two Ukrainians, one Romanian and 16 Filipinos on board and was carrying around two million barrels of crude oil.

SHAHBAIG: Seized December 6, 2009: Pirates seized the Pakistani-flagged fishing vessel, with a crew of 29 on board, thought to be Pakistani, 320 miles east of Socotra.

LAXMI SAGAR: Seized December 13, 2009: The Indian dhow has at least 10 crew aboard. Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said that it was the third dhow to be seized in a week.

* PIRACY FACTS:

-- There were 324 pirate attacks worldwide in the year to October 20, with 37 vessels hijacked and 639 hostages taken. In the same period in 2008 there were 194 attacks, 36 ships hijacked and 631 hostages, according to the latest figures from the ICC International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center (IMB).

-- Of the 324 incidents, attacks by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia numbered 174, with 35 vessels hijacked and 587 crew taken hostage.

-- Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal.

Sources: Reuters/Ecoterra International/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Center/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net