Yang Yi

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland Wednesday expressed great concerns for the Taiwan fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates and offered to help.

"We are greatly concerned about the safety of the Tay Yuan 227 and its crew and will closely follow the development of the situation," said Yang Yi, spokesman of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, at a press conference here.

The mainland is working hard to contact related authorities to learn more information about the hijacked vessel, he said.

"We will try our best to help as the vessel owner requests," he said.

The fishing vessel was hijacked by pirates 700 nautical miles northeast of Seychelles on Saturday, with 24 crew on board.