Dubai: The ship which was hijacked in the
coast of Oman by Somali pirates with 22 hostages, 17 of them
Indian, is not registered in the UAE, an official source has
said.
Royal Grace, the Nigeria-bound vessel, was earlier named
Royal Lady.
It set sail from Sharjah enroute to Nigeria with a
22-member crew and was hijacked on March 2.
It is a Nigeria-flagged ship and neither its owners nor
the company which it is leased to are registered in the UAE.
Apparently the ship is registered in Nigeria and was
carrying several Indians among people of other nationalities,
he said on the condition of anonymity.
According to reports reaching here, some Pakistanis are
also believed to be among the hostage.
Several such ships are in similar situation but in this
case Indian embassy in Abuja should be handling the matter,
he said.
Pirates first attacked it off the coast of Oman and later
hijacked it.
The ship is now believed to be at Garacad in Somalia.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 17:52