Contact has been made with the Bow Asir tanker ship, hijacked last week by Somali pirates with five Poles aboard.

The captain of the vessel has contacted the ship-owner, the Norwegian Salhus Shipping company. He informed that the crew is fine.

Spokesman for Poland’s foreign ministry, Piotr Paszkowski, confirmed the news and assured that the crew are safe.

“They have informed us that nothing bad has happened to them and they don’t feel that their lives are directly threatened,” Paszkowski said.

The hijacking occurred on Thursday some 300 miles off the coast of Somalia. The boat, 158 metres in length, is transporting chemicals and oil from Persian Gulf to the Mombasa port in Kenya.

The crew is made up of 27 people, including Russians, Lithuanians and Filipinos. The ship’s captain is Norwegian. The hijackers have yet to make demands.

According to Merek Niski, captain of super tanker Sirius Star which was hijacked by Somali pirates last autumn, the hijackers will contact the ship-owner soon and will ask for ransom.

“To my knowledge, an average ransom in recent years in this region has fluctuated between two and three million dollars,” said Niski. (jm/pg)

Source: PAP