Pirates have seized another cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, the 10th vessel to be captured in 17 days.

The Yemeni ship Adina was last heard of a week ago, after it had been out to sea for a week. Yemen's interior Ministry announced last night the ship had been hijacked in the Arabian Sea.

The ship's cargo and other details were not immediately known.

Its capture came as the Polish captain of Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star, said his crew, including the two Britons James Grady and Peter French, would be allowed to talk to their families over the next few days.

Marek Nishky whose supertanker, carrying $100 million was hijacked 10 days ago, told the BBC: "We were given already the opportunity to talk to our families, and today I was negotiating with a gentlemen here (about) another such possibility.

"I am promised it will be soon, today or tomorrow, my crew will again be allowed to talk to their families. As you can realise, these are the most important things for us now," he added.

Captain Nishky said the crew were being treated well. "I would say there is not a reason for complaints," he said, in an interview conducted in the rpesence of at least one of the pirates.

A pirate on board the ship, also speaking to the BBC, said 'no company' had made contact with the hijackers, and they had dealt only with middlemen.

"We captured the ship for ransom, of course, but we don't have anybody reliable to talk to directly about it," he said

Meanwhile international shipping officials called for a military blockade along Somalia's coast to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea.

Peter Swift, managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, said stronger naval action, including aerial support, was necessary to battle rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.

With close to 100 attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean this year, the pirates now pose a growing threat to international trade. Tanker owners are considering a detour of thousands of miles around southern Africa to avoid pirates, which will delay delivery and push costs up by 30 percent, said Mr Swift.

The association, whose members own 2,900 tankers or 75 percent of the world's fleet, opposes attempts to arm merchant ships because it could escalate the violence and put crew members at even greater risk, he said.

"The other option is perhaps putting a blockade around Somalia and introducing the idea of intercepting vessels leaving Somalia rather than to try to protect the whole of the Gulf of Aden," he said.

But NATO, which has four warships off the coast of Somalia, rejected a blockade.

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