The crew of a German tanker being held by Somali pirates since last week have said they are coping, a spokesman for their employer, Grona Shipping, said Sunday.
The Ems River and its crew of seven Filipinos and one Russian was seized in the Indian Ocean, 175 nautical miles off the port of Salalah last Monday. The vessel was en route from the United Arab Emirares to Greece.
The spokesman said Papenburg-based Grona Shipping's chief concern was the safety of the crew, who had said they were as well as they could be under the circumstances.
'We are doing everything we can to get our sailors out of this safe and in good health,' the spokesman said, but declined to discuss whether negotiations for their release were under way or if the pirates were demanding ransom.
The company has offered to help the families of the crew while the men are in captivity.