The vessel was hijacked when it was travelling in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC).

The MV Suez has a dead weight of 17,300 tonnes with a crew from Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India. It is a Panama flagged merchant vessel with a cargo of cement bags.

"It is still not clear who owns the ship and to which country the ship belongs to although it was flying a Panamanian flag. A merchant ship owner can register and get a licence from another country where the ship was registered," a spokesperson from the Ministry of External Affairs said.