Nine Filipinos were among those taken hostage when pirates took control of a chemical tanker in Somalia. This was confirmed by Chief Engineer Redentor Anaya, Sea Crest Maritime vice president for operations, who owns the hijacked chemical tanker. They were identified as Restituto Bulilad,

The Filipinos were among the 23 crewmembers of Panama-flagged Golden Mori that was hijacked Sunday in Somalia. The 14 other crew members were from Myanmar.

Anaya said Sea Crest Maritime is now coordinating with several government agencies including Philippine Overseas Employment Authority and the Department of Foreign Affairs. They are also meeting with their principal in Japan.

Sea Crest Maritime has also informed relatives of the Filipino seamen about the abduction.

The vessel, believed to be carrying oil products, sent a distress message Sunday. The SOS was picked up by a rescue center in Norway and relayed to the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The vessel, believed to be carrying oil products, sent a distress message Sunday. The SOS was picked up by a rescue center in Norway and relayed to the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"We tried to establish contact with the ship but we failed to get any response, so we than contacted coalition warships in the area," IMB spokesman Noel Choong earlier told AFP.

The coalition naval forces informed the IMB that the ship then entered Somali territorial waters, meaning no rescue could be initiated, he said.

"Somalia has no central government so that's a big problem," Choong said.

Choong added that for the past two weeks there has been a spike in piracy activity off the coast of war-torn Somalia, including another successful hijacking on October 17 on a cargo ship which was travelling to Mombasa, Kenya.

"It was attacked with automatic weapons and hijacked. As of last week there was still no information about the safety of the crew and the location of the ship," he said.

Choong said there were also two unsuccessful hijacking attempts in the lawless region earlier this month, but that the pirates failed to board the ships.

In Tokyo, a Japanese foreign ministry official confirmed the attack on the Panama-flagged ship.

"There are no Japanese among the crew members, but we won't disclose further information as the maritime company has requested us not to," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Pirates have attacked several vessels this year off Somalia's vast and largely unpatrolled coastline, according to the IMB.

The attacks stopped in the second half of 2006 during six months of strict rule by Islamists, who were ousted by Ethiopian and Somali government troops at the end of the year.

Somalia, which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea, has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle. With AFP