Pirates seized a British-owned ship yesterday after taking three vessels over the weekend, marking a jump in the number of hijackings in the perilous waters off Somalia this year.

In the first three months of 2009, only eight ships had been hijacked in the busy Gulf of Aden linking Europe to Asia and the eastern Indian Ocean off the Somali coast, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

Last year, heavily armed gangs from the lawless Horn of Africa nation hijacked dozens of vessels, taking hundreds of sailors hostage and earnings millions of dollars in ransoms.