Somali pirates who hijacked the Saudi-owned super-tanker Sirius Star today demanded $25 million in ransom and set a 10-day deadline.

“We are demanding $25 million from the Saudi owners of the tanker,” said Mohamed Said, one of the pirates, in a phone interview from the ship anchored off the Somali coast.

“We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter. The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous.”

The Sirius Star with its full cargo of two million barrels of oil has set new records as the most audacious hijack the pirates have yet managed, the largest ship yet taken and the attack furthest away from Somalia.

Seized at the weekend in the Indian Ocean some 500 miles (800 km) off the coast of Kenya, the vessel is now anchored at the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere, according to local officials.

Yesterday Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, confirmed that the ship’s owners were in talks with the pirates, but the company that operates the Sirius Star has remained tight-lipped about the claims of negotiations.

“We cannot confirm, nor deny” reports of negotiations with the hijackers, said Mihir Sapur, the spokesman of Vela International, a subsidiary of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.

The tanker's crew of 25 include two men from Britain, alongside 19 from the Philippines, two from Poland, one Croatian and one Saudi.

"The families of (Chief Engineer) Peter French, from County Durham, and (Second Officer) James Grady, from Strathclyde, greatly appreciate the concern that has been expressed by people throughout the UK and beyond, about Peter and James. They hope that Peter and James will be home safely to their families very soon," said the families of the two Britons, in a statement issued through the Foreign Office last night. Mr French is married and has a 17-year-old daughter.

Today Saudi Arabia joined other Arab states with Red Sea coastline at an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss the threat of piracy off Somalia.

Senior officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen met for the talks, amid growing international frustration over a situation described by the International Maritime Bureau as “out of control."

With three more ships captured since the Sirius Star was taken, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said his government would consider all possibilities in dealing with the crisis.

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