Awaiting report on Lankan

19 July 2011 08:00 am Views - 4642

By Gandhya Senanayake

The External Affaires Ministry is awaiting a report from the Sri Lankan consulate in Nairobi, Kenya regarding the Sri Lankan on board the United Arab Emirates flagged oil tanker that was reportedly hijacked on Sunday, the External Affaires Ministry told Daily Mirror online

It was earlier reported that the pirates hijacked a United Arab Emirates owned and flagged oil tanker with a crew of 16. The ship was reportedly captured on Sunday morning while on its regular route from UAE to the Somali port of Berbera in the Indian Ocean.

The other crew members in the ship include a three Bangladeshis, five Indians, four Somalis, a Kenyan, a Sudanese and one crew member from Myanmar.

When questioned regarding Sri Lankans that had been taken into custody by the Somali Pirates during hijacking the Ministry added that many of them were continuing their jobs with the shipping companies after being released.

Several incident were reported in the past few years where several Sri Lankans were in Somali Pirates custody, after the ships they were working for were hijacked during voyages in the Indian Ocean. (Daily Mirror online)
.