The safety of an international crew aboard a hijacked Saudi supertanker carrying $100m (£67m) of oil is �top priority�, the vessel�s owner insisted yesterday.
The safety of an international crew aboard a hijacked Saudi supertanker carrying $100m (£67m) of oil is "top priority", the vessel's owner insisted yesterday.
The 25-strong crew of the Sirius Star - the largest vessel ever hijacked - are said to be well and have not been hurt.
The vessel, Saudi-owned but sailing under a Liberian flag, was heading for the US via the southern tip of Africa when it was hijacked at the weekend, 420 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.
Her crew includes two Britons - the tanker's chief engineer and second officer - as well as nationals from the Philippines, Poland, Croatia and Saudi Arabia.
Last night, as the vessel lay anchored off the Somalian coast near the port of Haradheere - a hotbed of piracy - efforts were under way to secure the crew's safe release.
A statement issued by Salah Kaaki, president of Vela International Marine Ltd, the vessel's owner, said: "Our first and foremost priority is ensuring the safety of the crew.
"We are in communication with their families and are working towards their safe and speedy return.
"Vela continues to monitor the situation and co-ordinate with the relevant embassies at this time. Vela is awaiting further contact from the pirates in control of the vessel."
The Indian and south Atlantic oceans are becoming increasingly dangerous places for the cargo ships that ply trade routes between Asia, Europe and the US.
The hijack raises fears that international naval patrols nearer the east coast of Africa and in the Gulf of Aden, off Yemen, will not be enough to protect vital trade routes as pirate gangs become ever more audacious.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has recorded a sharp increase in attacks of piracy during the first nine months of this year, with 199 incidents reported.
The east coast of Somalia is the world's worst pirate hotspot accounting for about one-third of all attacks.
Usually the hijackings are resolved peacefully through ransom negotiations, but given the value of the cargo on the Sirius Star, a military response has not been ruled out.
Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which represents seafarers, has urged the UK Government to push for expansion of patrolling and escorts to help counter the piracy threat. He said: "The growth of piracy is a threat faced by the shipping industry on a global scale and it requires a global response."
Mr Crow said the scale of the problem in the Gulf of Aden was now so big that it was known among mariners as "the gates of hell".
IMB manager Cyrus Mody said the safe repatriation of the Sirius Star's crew would not be straightforward because it was very difficult for security patrols to intervene once a ship had been boarded: "Once the pirates are on a vessel, you have the risk of the crew being used as human shields or being injured in crossfire."
The US Navy described the seizure of the Sirius Star as an "unprecedented attack".
The renewed fears about piracy came as it was announced yesterday that eight suspected Somali pirates were handed over to the Kenyan authorities by the Royal Navy following an attempted hijacking in the Gulf of Aden last week.
