Athens  - Pirates captured a tanker off the coast of Somalia, a Greek shipping company reported Saturday.

According to the Greek coastguard, 19 Romanian sailors were aboard the tanker Genious which was sailing under a Liberian flag.

The attack was reported to the shipping company by the ship's captain by radio shortly before the pirates boarded the vessel. The pirates fired a number shots into the air to bring the ship to a halt.

The Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by chaos and clan-based civil war since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.

However, piracy has flourished in the last two years as Islamist insurgents push hard to regain power.

Piracy is rife off the lawless Somali coast, with armed groups now holding 14 ships and around 200 crew members.

The pirates often demand ransoms in excess of 1 million dollars for the return of the vessels and their crews. (dpa)