No Chinese national on hijacked cargo ship

BEIJING - No Chinese national was aboard the ship hijacked by Somali pirates near Seychelles on Sunday, the nation's maritime authority said on Monday, refuting earlier reports that crew-members held hostage onboard were Chinese.

The Chinese Marine Search and Rescue Center (CMSRC), after contacting its counterparts in the European Union, confirmed that no Chinese was among the 26 crew-members on the St. Vincent and Grenadines flagged cargo ship, or Rak Afrikana, which is owned by Seychelles' Rak Afrikana Shipping Ltd.

The island nation is located some 1,500 km east of mainland Africa in the Indian Ocean, and lies to the northeast of the island of Madagascar.