Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Program said the Saudi-owned 5,136 deadweight ton Al-Nisr Al-Saudi was seized Monday and was now off the Somali coast.
The ship usually carries fuel oil but was empty when it was taken in the Gulf of Aden Monday. The crew members are believed to be safe, said a spokesman for the EU Naval Force Wednesday.
It was not registered with maritime authorities and was outside the designated route patrolled by naval warships, said Cmdr. John Harbour.
Saudi Aramco said Wednesday that the oil tanker captured by pirates does not belong to Vella International Marine Company Limited, an Aramco subsidiary.
The tanker was found to be owned by a gasoline company based in Jeddah. Kamel Ori, the director of the company, said that they lost contact with the tanker Monday and reported the incident to the Emirate of Makkah. The captain of the ship is Greek and the 13 crew members are from Sri Lanka, he said.
The Yemeni coastal guard said that they did not receive a help call from the tanker bound to Jeddah from Japan.
Reports said hijackers were demanding $ 20 million to release the empty ship that was taken to the Indian Ocean.
Somali pirates are currently holding six hijacked ships and 132 sailors, including those aboard the Al-Nisr Al-Saudi.
In 2008, Somali pirates had hijakcjed Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned supertanker, about the length of an American Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the largest ship known to have been seized by pirates, and it was fully loaded with two million barrels of oil.
The pirates held the tanker off the coast of Somalia for two months and released it in January 2009 for a ransom of $ 3 million.
