Five Chinese sailors were among the 24 crew onboard the Singapore-flagged chemical tanker, which was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, an official with the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center confirmed Saturday.

The official told Xinhua that the Center received a report of the incident at 8:30 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday, which also said the seized ship, called Pramoni, was heading towards Somali coast.

Pramoni, with 20,000 dead weight tonnes, belongs to Singapore's GBLT Shipmanagement Pte. Ltd. It was hijacked by pirates when sailing to India via the Gulf of Aden.

The official said the Singaporean government and GBLT Shipmanagement were trying to contact and rescue the hijacked ship.

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