Somali pirates who hijacked two South Korean fishing vessels off the Somali coast are demanding 700,000 U.S. dollars ransom for the release of the scores of Asian crew members held hostage, Kenya's maritime official said on Saturday.

Andrew Mwangura, director of the East African Seafarers Assistance Program, said the pirates who seized the Tanzanian- flagged vessels, about 370 kilometers off the coast of Somalia on May 15 have not made any intention of the reducing the ransom.

"The pirates are demanding 700,000 U.S. dollars ransom to release two Tanzanian flagged South Korean fishing vessels. A mother ship has been spotted some 200 nautical miles from Mogadishu," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone from Mombasa.

He said the Mavuno 1 and Mavuno 2, which left Kenya early this month, were hijacked on their way to Yemen with 24 crew members onboard.

He said negotiations is, however, still underway to secure the release of 10 Chinese, 4 Koreans, 3 Vietnamese, 4 Indonesians, and 3 Indians who are in captivity in the pirate-infested Horn of African nation.

"The pirates want the ransom to be paid equally by South Korea, China, Indonesia, Vietnamese and India whose nationalities are in captivity. But I don't think if this would be paid," said Mwangura.

Piracy has been rife off Somalia since the country slid into chaos after warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Many pirates claim to be "coast-guards" protecting their waters against illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste.

The attacks have been on the rise since Islamists, who controlled most of south Somalia in the second half of 2006, were ousted in January.

The hijacking was the fifth reported since the interim government and its Ethiopian allies routed Islamists from Mogadishu last month.

At least eight vessels have been hijacked in the past two months. The global maritime body warned that the Horn of African nation's coastline is one of the most dangerous in the world.

Source: Xinhua