Dubai, Jul 15 (AP) An oil tanker sought by the US over allegedly trying to circumvent sanctions on Iran was hijacked on July 5 off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a seafarers organisation said Wednesday.

David Hammond, the CEO of the United Kingdom-based group Human Rights at Sea, said that 26 of the Indian sailors on board had made it back to India, while two remained in Tehran, without elaborating.

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Hammond said he took a witness statement from the captain of the MT Gulf Sky confirming the ship had been hijacked.

Hammond also said that he had no other details on the vessel. TankerTrackers.com, a website tracking the oil trade at sea, said it saw the vessel in satellite photos recently in Iranian waters.

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The Emirati government and the US Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)