The incident occurred when Kuwaiti-owned vessel was on its way to Singapore from Bashayer, Sudan.

According to EUNAVFOR two pirate skiffs attacked the vessel at about 250 nautical miles southeast of the Omani port city of Salalah.

Among the crew are 17 Pakistani nationals, three Jordanians, three Egyptians, two Ukrainians and one each from the Philippines, India, Croatia and Iraq.

This takes the total number of vessels currently under pirate control to 26.

An estimated 582 sailors are also under pirate custody.