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Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew onboard, a Somali official said on Tuesday, the first time they have successfully taken a commercial ship since 2012.

The Aris 13 sent a distress call on Monday, turned off its tracking system and altered course for the Somali port town of Alula, said John Steed of the aid group Oceans Beyond Piracy.

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“The pirates hijacked the oil tanker and they brought it near Alula,” Mohamud Ahmed Eynab, the district commissioner for Alula, told Reuters on Tuesday by phone. Pirates in the town confirmed they were expecting the ship.

The tanker was believed to have eight crew on board, said Steed, an expert on piracy who is in contact with naval forces tracking the ship.

“The ship reported it was being followed by two skiffs yesterday afternoon. Then it disappeared,” he said.

Aircraft from regional naval force EU Navfor were flying overhead to track the ship’s progress and to try to determine what was happening, he said.