Japan-operated tanker attacked off Somali coast

Officials say a Japanese-operated chemical tanker has been strafed by gunfire from an unidentified vessel off the Somali coast slightly wounding two crew members.

Transport ministry officials said Tuesday they are investigating whether pirates were involved in the attack on the Oriental Rose vessel on Monday in the Gulf of Aden.

The 8,259-ton ship was carrying 21 crew members including 19 Filipinos and two South Koreans. Two crew suffered cuts from broken shards of glass resulting from gunfire.

The vessel, escorted by a Chinese warship, departed the Dutch port of Rotterdam and is continuing to its original destination of Kandla, India.