By Victor Adar

NAIROBI, June 29 (Reuters) - A South Korean cargo ship is missing in pirate-infested waters off Somalia, an official said on Friday, hours after the world's top maritime body urged the U.N. Security Council to help it end piracy in Somali waters.

If is confirmed that the Sea Prince was seized by pirates, it would bring to five the number of foreign vessels held off the Horn of Africa nation in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.

Andrew Mwangura, director of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said the Sea Prince vanished after leaving Djibouti on May 11 carrying 2,400 tonnes of cereals for delivery in Berbera and Bosasso.

"She was expected to be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, by this time to load another cargo," he told Reuters by telephone. "No one knows where they are."

It was not immediately clear how many crew were on board, or from which countries. Mwangura said the ship was owned by a U.S. company and managed by a firm based in Ukraine.

Four ships are currently held by Somali pirates -- two from Tanzania, one from Denmark and one from Taiwan. The pirates killed one Taiwanese captive this month, apparently after the owners of his vessel refused to pay a ransom.

The latest suspected hijacking was feared to have occurred a day after the International Maritime Organisation, an U.N. agency, said increasing attacks off Somalia this year were endangering vital aid shipments and commercial activity at sea.

The violence has mounted since a Somali Islamist movement that brought a semblance of law and order to the chaotic nation was toppled in January after a six-month rule.

Officials say there have been 15 ship hijackings and attempted attacks off Somalia so far this year, most of them since March.

There were 10 such incidents reported for the whole of 2006.

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