Somali pirates are taking a hijacked oil tanker with two Britons onboard to a port in Somalia, the US Navy said yesterday.
Somali pirates are taking a hijacked oil tanker with two Britons onboard to a port in Somalia, the US Navy said yesterday.
The Saudi-owned Sirius Star was hijacked on Saturday, 450 nautical miles south-east of Mombasa, a spokesman for the US Navy said.
The large oil tanker is owned by Saudi oil company Aramco but was sailing under a Liberian flag.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office confirmed that two of those onboard are British but could not give any details of their role on the ship.
He said: "We are seeking more information on the incident."
Lieutenant Nate Christensen, of the US Navy, 5th Fleet, said: "The latest information we have is that they are taking the vessel to a Somali port. We don't know the condition of the crew onboard or the nature of the pirates' demands. We don't know exactly where they are taking it but we know the town of Eyl is a pirate stronghold."
Eyl is in the northern Puntland region of Somalia and has become notorious for pirate activity over the past months. Dozens of ships are thought to be held captive there.
The supertanker is the largest ship to fall victim to pirates, the US Navy said. It is 1080ft long and can carry two million barrels of oil.
The hijack - the first successful attack so far out at sea - raises fears that international patrols nearer the coast and in the Gulf of Aden will not be enough to protect vital trade routes.
The Sirius Star was carrying a cargo of crude oil and had 25 crew members on board when it was attacked.
A spokesman for the Royal Navy said he could not say if British servicemen were involved in any attempts to rescue the vessel.
"It is our policy not to discuss operational matters," he said.
