A tanker master has been killed in a violent pirate attack off Venezuela.
The captain was shot in the head during the raid on the 2,000-dwt Seaboard I (built 1979) at 1am local time on Thursday off Puerto La Cruz, daily newspaper El Tiempo reported.
The victim was named as Jaime Herrera Orozco, 58, from Colombia.
Broadcaster VPI said the master was killed when resisting the robbery.
The pirates gagged two Venezuelan crew members, as well as a Cuban and seven Colombians, after boarding the vessel in the Caribbean.
A female electrician named as Eulalio Bravo Valencia, 55, is believed to be missing after having fallen into the water.
Security consultancy Ambrey reported that a coast guard representative was also injured in the attack.
The six assailants fled in a boat with unspecified stolen goods.
The captain's body was taken to hospital for a post-mortem.
The Seaboard I is operated by Maritime Services Bureau of Miami, which could not be contacted.
The ship has been detained for six months at the anchorage at La Borracha island under an order by a Venezuelan judge in a case centred on suspected fuel trafficking, according to news site Tal Cual.
The Comoros-flagged vessel was formerly named San Ramon, when it sailed under the Togolese flag.
It was last tracked operating off Georgetown, Guyana, in July.
Venezuela had previously been known for low-level robberies from vessels, but this could mark a rise in the violence used by armed gangs.
Eric Martin contributed to this article.
