Pirates Killed Crew of 23, Newspaper Says

Pirates with submachine guns killed 23 sailors aboard a Panamanian-registered ship bound for China, dumped their bodies into the sea and stole a cargo of mineral ore, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The 20,000-ton ship was en route last month from Malaysia to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou when its crew was killed by pirates who arrived in a stolen high-speed boat, the Oriental Daily News said.

Four suspects from Shenzhen in southern China and three others from Jilin province in the north were detained after Chinese authorities found a souvenir photograph the pirates took on the deck of the seized ship, the newspaper said.

Two others--including the group’s leader--are still at large, the paper added.