A PANAMAX tanker was hijacked by pirates in the Luanda anchorage, Angola, and the 27 Filipino and Indian crew members were held hostage on-board for more than one week, including one wounded seafarer, before the pirates fled with much of the cargo.
The owner of the vessel, Athens-based Dynacom Tankers, said the condition of the wounded man - the tanker's Indian fourth engineer - was not known, but the company was arranging to get him to hospital.
According to Dynacom founder George Prokopiou, the company learned the man had been stabbed in the back with a knife and hit with a gun butt, reported Lloyd's List.
Dynacom lost contact with the 75,000-dwt Kerala on January 18 after it was seized, but re-established contact with the missing vessel on January 26 and spoke with its master.
"All crew members are alive and accounted for, but one is wounded and all have clearly been affected by their ordeal," the shipping company said in a written statement.
Mr Prokopiou said the pirates held the master on the floor at gunpoint, leaving him "very shocked".
Dynacom estimates that 13,000 tonnes of gas oil was removed from Kerala by ship-to-ship transfer and said the pirates also stole a quantity of lubricants, ropes and provisions before they fled.
Dynacom also confirmed that the tanker was hijacked at Angola's Luanda anchorage, where it is understood to have been operating for Sonangol in a storage role.
"It was in an area considered safe," said Mr Prokopiou.
Dynacom also thanked "regional and international navies" that dispatched assets to monitor the pirates and provide assistance. Law enforcement and intelligence officers will board Kerala to gather intelligence and evidence from vessel and crew, the company said.