Seafarers group: Tanker off UAE sought by US 'hijacked'

David Hammond, the CEO of the United Kingdom-based group Human Rights at Sea, said that 26 of the Indian sailors on board had made it back to India, while two remained in Tehran, without elaborating. TankerTrackers.com, a website tracking the oil trade at sea, said it saw the vessel in satellite photos recently in Iranian waters.

An oil tanker sought by the US over allegedly trying to circumvent sanctions on Iran was hijacked on July 5 off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a seafarers organization said Wednesday. David Hammond, the CEO of the United Kingdom-based group Human Rights at Sea, said that 26 of the Indian sailors on board had made it back to India, while two remained in Tehran, without elaborating. Hammond said he took a witness statement from the captain of the MT Gulf Sky confirming the ship had been hijacked.

Hammond also said that he had no other details on the vessel. TankerTrackers.com, a website tracking the oil trade at sea, said it saw the vessel in satellite photos recently in Iranian waters. The Emirati government and the US Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to requests for comment.