All twenty-five sailors, including eight Bulgarians, aboard the UK-flagged cargo ship, which was seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia late on Friday, are in good health.

This has been announced by Commander John Harbour, a spokesperson for NavFor, the European Union's counter-piracy force.

"The Asian Glory," which was transporting cars from Singapore to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, was seized about 600 miles east of the Somali coast before it could join a convoy. The ship’s payload can be up to 4,000 cars.

Another British-flagged ship with five Bulgarians onboard, the chemical tanker "St James Park," was seized on Monday in the Gulf of Aden.

London-based Zodiac Maritime Agencies manage both ships but the company says there is no other connection between the hijackings which it described as a case of lightning striking the same place twice.

According to Dragovest Goranov, Spokesperson of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, the Asian Glory was hijacked very far off the Somali coast - 650 miles , which is untypical. It will take the ship 2-3 days to reach the Somali coast which is when the negotiations for its release will be started at the earliest.

Goranov announced that the hijackers of the UK tanker St. James Park with 5 Bulgarian sailors on board have allowed the crew to talk to their families. All of the kidnapped sailors are in a good condition, and the negotiations are expected to start soon

Goranov said the Foreign Ministry was worried by the continuing of the hijacking of ships by Somali pirates. He thinks military force was not among the efficient ways to fight piracy, and one way to deal with this problem could be providing aid to poor states such as Somalia.

Although the location of the seized vessels is well known, they can all be seen anchored off the Somali coast, experts say it would be impossible to liberate the hostages without severe loss of life.

"If the pirates are already on board, then there is not much that we can do - if you value the lives of the hostages," Commander Pieter Bindt, head of the EU's anti-piracy taskforce, NavFor, said.

In the past, heavy ransoms amounting to millions have been paid for hijacked ships.

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