WORLD : Eritreans Attack Polish Ship

WARSAW — Eritrean rebels attacked and crippled a Polish freighter off the Ethiopian coast and captured 29 crew members and a passenger, the Polish government said today.

“We have heard that the crew is safe and in the care of the Eritrean Liberation Front,” government spokesman Stefan Staniszewski said at a Warsaw news conference.

Staniszewski said the Eritreans admitted their guerrillas attacked the vessel Jan. 3 and that the 29 crew members and a woman passenger, identified by Polish newspapers as the wife of a crewman, were captured.

Staniszewski said the 11,627-ton vessel, Boleslaw Krzywousty, was found ablaze, unmanned and apparently aground Jan. 4 off the Ethiopian coast by the Polish ship Asnyk, which was alerted by distress signals.