SEOUL, April 5 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government Wednesday is still trying to identify the hijackers of a South Korean fishing ship that was hijacked off the coast of Somalia on Tuesday afternoon.

    The 361-ton Dongwon-ho No. 628, owned by Busan-based Dongwon Fisheries, was hijacked by a group of unidentified gunmen on Tuesday off the coast of Somalia, confirmed South Korean Foreign Ministry earlier Wednesday.

    All the 25 crew members on board were abducted. The crew includes eight South Korean fishermen, nine from Indonesia, five from Vietnam and three from China, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

    The South Korean Foreign Ministry also informed Chinese Embassy in Seoul of the information that three Chinese are among the abductees, according to source at the Chinese Embassy. Moreover, South Korean Yonhap News Agency quoted Dongwon Fisheries as saying that the captain of the hijacked ship managed to contact the company's Busan office stealthily by radio after the incident occurred.

    "Eight armed insurgents believed to be pirates have just seized our ship after threatening us with gunfire," Choi Sung-sik, the captain of the ship, said in the radio message.

    "We have been taken hostage by the pirates, but all crewmembers are safe," he said, according to the transcript of the communication.

    Choi also told his company the hijackers took all the food from his ship and have instructed crew to sail to the Somali port of Obbia.

    South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said in his weekly regular press briefing earlier in the day his government "is making full efforts to secure the release of the ship and the crew."

    Ban said he sent an emergency letter to his Somali counterpart, Edna Adan Ismail, urging the country to make efforts to resolve the issue.

    "I also sent similar letters to such neighboring nations as Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia," he added. "The characteristics and identity of the hijackers remain unknown. They have also yet to issue their demands."

    Earlier in the day, South Korea had a meeting of related government officials on Wednesday to secure the release of the ship and the crew.

    The South Korean government has already formed a task force to deal with the incident, with Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan as its head. Enditem