The Chinese Embassy to Kenya confirmed on Tuesday that a chemical tanker of China's Hong Kong had been hijacked by pirates near Somalia's dangerous waters.
The Chinese Embassy to Kenya told Xinhua that the tanker, with 22 crew members onboard, was hijacked on Monday in the Gulf of Aden while heading for Asia.
The nationalities of the crew members are still unknown, the Chinese embassy said.
It said it was following closely the development of the incident.
It is the 12th vessel to be hijacked in the pirate-infested waterway since July 20.
Armed attacks against fishing boats, cargo ships and yachts along the Somali coast have surged over recent months. The Horn of Africa nation's coastline is considered one of the world's most dangerous stretches of water because of piracy.
Somalia is at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, which leads to the Red Sea and the 166-kilometer Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping channels.
Somalia has been plagued by factional fighting between warlords and hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 ouster of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.
Source: Xinhua
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