Singapore: The Singapore-based operator of a chemical tanker hijacked by pirates off the coast of Madagascar said on Saturday it was trying to make contact with the vessel.
The UBT Ocean`s Singaporean operator, Nautictank Pte Ltd, said it had received no word from the vessel since it was boarded late Friday.
"We are doing everything we can to establish contact and our sole concern right now is the safety of our crew. We have no contact whatsoever with the vessel, or the master, or the pirates," Nautictank spokesman Edward Ion said.
He said they knew little besides the fact that the ship was moving north towards the pirate haven of Somalia.
The Marshall Island-flagged vessel was travelling from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam.
It had taken a route well south of the zone where pirates usually operate, the ship`s owner Broevigtank said in Oslo.
Ion added that the status of the vessel`s 21 crew members, whom he identified as Myanmar nationals, remained unknown.
Somalia`s marauding sea bandits hijacked 68 ships in 2009 and raked in an estimated USD 60 million in ransom money.
Bureau Report
