Mumbai: The hijacked chemical tanker MT Fairchem Bogey arrived on the Somalia coast and anchored just north of Bandar Beyla on Monday afternoon.

Twenty crew members on board the hijacked vessel — all Indians — are "safe" and "sound", said a representative of a Mumbai firm managing the ship.

Nearly 48 hours after it was hijacked by the Somali pirates from Salalah port in Oman, the ship reached the Somalia coast and its master confirmed the anchoring of the vessel north of Bandar Beyla to Messrs Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based firm which manages the ship.

"As our first concern is with the well-being of the crew and their families, we are pleased to be able to advise that all the families of the crew of the Fairchem Bogey have been contacted by crew members and from all accounts, the crew is safe and sound," Ferdi Stolzenberg of Hong Kong-based MTI Network (Asia), representing Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, told Gulf News via email.

Stolzenberg said that the pirates had not made the "first contact" with the managers of the ship. "We are still waiting to make first contact with the hijackers," he pointed out.

In its effort to assist the affected family members, Anglo-Eastern Ship Management has activated three "family support" centres in India. It has briefed families about these centres. "The Master has been in contact with us reconfirming safety of the crew," Stolzenberg said.

Taking serious cognisance of the manner in which the Somali pirates managed to stealthily board and hijack MT Fairchem Bogey from the designated anchorage of Salalah port on Saturday, India's Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) is planning to write to the Oman authorities seeking reasons for a major security lapse that led to the hijack of the ship managed by an Indian firm.

"The hijack of MT Fairchem Bogey has happened right under the nose of the Salalah port authorities. We have been told that the Oman authorities have already ordered an inquiry into the incident. We will also be writing to the Oman authorities seeking details as to what went wrong," a senior DGS official said.