KUWAIT CITY, March 28, (Agencies): Kuwait’s state oil company denied a report from EU naval forces that pirates on Monday hijacked a Kuwaiti tanker southeast of Oman, in a statement carried by state news agency KUNA.
“Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has denied reports saying that a Kuwaiti oil tanker was seized off Oman’s coast,” KUNA reported.
KPC spokesman Sheikh Talal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, quoted in a brief statement, said the report from the European Union Navfor anti-piracy mission was “totally incorrect.”
Earlier, the European Union’s naval forces said pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades had hijacked a Kuwaiti oil tanker carrying 29 sailors including 17 Pakistanis southeast of Oman, the European Union’s naval forces said.

The Zirku crude oil tanker was seized some 250 nautical miles southeast of the Omani port of Salalah at around 0900 GMT, the EU Navfor anti-piracy mission said in a statement.
“The vessel was attacked by two pirate skiffs firing RPGs and small arms,” the statement said.
In addition to the Pakistanis, the vessel was carrying three Egyptians, three Jordanians, two Ukrainians, one Indian, one Filipino, one Iraqi and one Croatian.
“There is no further information about the crew at present,” EU Navfor said.
The ship was on its way to Singapore from Bashayer, Sudan, when it was attacked.
The Zirku had registered with Navfor’s Maritime Security Centre - Horn of Africa, which tracks the movements of ships through the Gulf of Aden.

It was also reporting to the UK Maritime Trade Operations office in Dubai, which acts as the primary point of contact for merchant vessels and liaison with military forces in the region.
It was not immediately clear whether the tanker was fully laden with crude. Sudan is an oil-exporting country.
Tankers are a prized catch for ransom-seeking Somali pirates who operate as far south as Madagascar and as far east as a few hundred miles off India.
Somali pirates early last month grabbed a US-bound super tanker carrying a crude oil cargo worth an estimated $200 million.
Somalia has lacked an effective central government for two decades, allowing armed gangs to stalk the strategic waterways off the Horn of Africa nation and rake in tens of millions of dollars in booty each year.