The Chinese government is highly concerned with the safety of a Taiwanese fishing ship and its crew, who were captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Thursday.

She told a regular press conference the Foreign Ministry was coordinating with other departments and diplomatic and consular missions after the hijacking on Monday.

A Taiwanese fishing boat was hijacked by pirates in waters north of the Seychelles islands and east of Somalia on Monday, with 30 crew on board. Five of the crew members were from the Chinese mainland, two from Taiwan and another 23 from foreign countries.

Relevant departments on the Chinese mainland contacted concerned Taiwan authorities as soon as possible, and were maintaining contact and were ready to provide active assistance according to Taiwan's needs, she said.

The Foreign Ministry had issued an alert on its website to remind Chinese ships and people to keep clear of waters near Yemen, the Gulf of Aden, Somalia, Kenya, and east of Tanzania and north of the Seychelles, to avoid pirate attacks, Jiang said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2009)