Somali pirates captured a Singaporean-owned chemical tanker with 24 crew members in the Gulf of Aden on the first day of 2010.

The 150-meter long, 20,000-ton MT Parmoni was on en route to India when it was boarded on Friday and forced to turn towards the Somali coast, The Times of India reported citing the European Union's Atalanta mission based Britain.

"We are trying to raise contact with the ship and look into the safety of the crew," a spokesperson for the ship owners, GBLT Shipmanagement Pte Ltd, said on Saturday morning, the paper reported.

Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said it received a distress alert from the chemical tanker at 09:30 GMT Friday.

Piracy off the Somali coast picked up again this week after a relative lull in attacks as a British chemical tanker and a Greek freighter have also been hijacked, carrying 45 crew members in total.

International navies have been deployed off the East African coast to counter piracy.

MOSCOW, January 2 (RIA Novosti)