Efforts are continuing today to free an Irish man among six tugboat crew members captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia last week.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the man, who has not been named, was aboard the Svitzer Korsakovwhen it was seized early on Friday morning as it made its way to Sakhalin Island, between northwest Japan and Russia.
The man was captured along with the captain and four Russian crew members. It is understood he is a Dublin-born chemical engineer in his 60s.
A spokesman for Svitzer, the Danish firm that owns the ship, said the crew was unharmed. He refused to comment on whether the pirates had made any ransom demands.