The hijacked Chinese bulk carrier DE XIN HAI is heading northwest and is now 650 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia, the EU anti-piracy military organization EU NAVFOR said on Tuesday.

Daniel Auwermann, an official of the organization's media center, said the ship is expected to head toward pirate strongholds based in Somalia.

The pirates are likely to contact the owner of the ship after they arrived in Somalia and obtained supply, Auwermann said.

The ship, carrying about 76,000 tonnes of coal from South Africa to India, was hijacked in the Indian Ocean on Monday, 350 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 700 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia.

British media reported that pirates threatened on Tuesday to kill the 25 Chinese crew members on board if any rescue operation was attempted.