TAIPEI: The government is doing everything it can to rescue a Taiwanese deep-sea fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean early yesterday, a "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" (MOFA) official said later in the day.

The 700-ton long-line fishing ship "Win Far 161", with 30 crew members on board, was hijacked near an island in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, said Chang Yun-ping, director-general of the MOFA's Department of African Affairs.

According to Chang, only the ship's skipper and first engineer are Taiwanese, while all other crew members originate from the mainland, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Chang said the "ministry" has sought the assistance of the UK Maritime Trade Organization, the maritime liaison office of America's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, the Seychelles fishery bureau and the Somali harbor bureau in rescuing the hijacked Kaohsiung-based long-liner.

Moreover, Chang said, the "ministry" is endeavoring to get information about the hijacked ship's latest situation through Taiwan's representative office in South Africa and other channels.

"We have gained knowledge of the Win Far's current location. It is more than 1,000 kilometers away from land," Chang said. He added, however, that the "ministry" has yet to receive any information related to the pirates' ransom request.

Asked whether the "ministry" will seek the mainland's help in rescuing the ship, Chang said that as the mainland's military fleet is currently patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the estuary of the Red Sea, far north of where the Win Far was hijacked, the "ministry" has no plan to approach the mainland for assistance at the moment.

According to a foreign wire service report, the Taiwanese ship was the second attack by Somali pirates in the Seychelles within a week. A small Yemeni boat was also hijacked near the Seychelles Sunday.

Analysts say the pirates have moved many of their operations out of the Gulf of Aden, which is heavily patrolled by naval warships from a number of countries, including China, the United States, France and India.

Instead, they are targeting ships coming out of the Mozambique Channel, an area of the Indian Ocean farther south between the southeastern Africa coast and Madagascar.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 04/07/2009 page1)