24 Indians in pirates' captivity

At least 24 Indian sailors, including the captain and chief officer of a Panama-registered vessel, were being held by Somali pirates who

seized the grain-laden ship off the coast of Seychelles. The MV Al Khaliq, on which 24 of 26 crew were Indians, was captured on Wednesday.

This is the second pirate attack involving Indians in recent weeks. On October 15, two Indians — an engineer and a cadet — on board MV Kota Wajar, were taken away by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean, about 500 km north of the Seychelles island. Negotiations are still on to free the hostages.

Sources in the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) said while the captain and the chief officer were from Mumbai the other sailors were from Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Gujarat. The two non-Indian sailors were Myanmarese.

The ship was on its way from Novorossiysk in southern Russia to Kenya's Mombasa port. Pirates boarded the ship at 5.50am on Wednesday. "Information from the master over the phone to the managers is that at least two pirates have boarded the vessel," said a DGS official.

Al Khaliq was reportedly hijacked soon after another boarding attempt on an Italian ship MV Jolly Rosso was foiled. "Pirates aboard two small skiffs opened fire and attacked with rocket-propelled guns. The Italian ship managed to evade the attack as naval forces patrolling the area closed in. But almost at the same time, Al Khaliq reported being under attack. In the last contact with the vessel, it was said that the pirates were on board trying to access the accommodation," said a statement by the European Union Naval Force Somalia.