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The Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Sunday that efforts were under way to secure the release of 17 Indonesian sailors being held aboard a ship hijacked by Somali pirates.

Teuku Faizasyah, a ministry spokesman, told the Jakarta Globe that Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa had instructed the Indonesian ambassador in Nairobi to gather the latest information on the Norwegian ship, which was hijacked on Friday.

“We can confirm that there are 17 Indonesian sailors on board the ship, which was hijacked on January 1,” Teuku said.

He added that the ministry was closely monitoring the situation.

Teuku said the Singaporean-flagged ship, the Pramoni, was a Norwegian chemical tanker leased by an Indonesian company.

The ship was seized in the Gulf of Aden while en route to India, marking the first attack by Somali pirates this year.

Also among the 20,000 deadweight-ton vessel’s 24-man crew are five Chinese nationals, a Nigerian and a Vietnamese.

Teuku said the ministry was working on the situation and was contacting the sailors’ families.

“We have all the information from our embassy in Singapore and we have managed to track down the data of those who are on board,” he said. “We are establishing contacts with informal groups in Somalia and we have seen some indication that the ship’s owner is willing to negotiate, but this is very preliminary.”



Additional reporting from Agence France-Presse