Thaindian News

London, May 12 (IANS) About 15 crew members, including some Indians, are on board a tanker carrying 135,000 tonnes of oil, which has been hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea, a media report said.

The Liberian-flagged Smyrni was hijacked off the coast of Oman, reported BBC.

The ship’s operator said it lost contact with the crew at 11:50 GMT Thursday.

It is reported to have a crew of about 15 on board, composed of Indians and Filipinos.

Pirates struck about 630 km from the Omani coast and hijacked the ship which was only on its second voyage. It first set to sea in 2011.

As many as 17 ships and nearly 300 crew are currently held by Somali pirates, according to the International Maritime Organisation.

An Indonesian official said that the hijacking of the vessel carrying oil for Indonesia would not impact the production of Indonesian refinery as the country has more stockpile, reported Xinhua.

“The hijack of the tanker carrying crude oil from Azerbaijan is not going to disturb the production of whole refinery in the country, particularly the refinery in Balikpapan which is the destination of the crude oil,” Mochamad Harun, spokesperson of the state oil-and-gas firm PT Pertamina, said in a statement Saturday.

The spokesperson said that the firm did not suffer a financial loss as the hijack took place during the transportation and it was protected by insurance, said Harun.