The captain of a chemical tanker with a crew of 28 North Koreans that was hijacked by pirates in waters off Somalia on Monday has reportedly died of a gunshot wound.

A Somali pirate told Reuters via a telephone conversation Wednesday that during the process of the hijacking, the captain of the MV Theresa VIII was shot and that he died on Tuesday. The pirate, however, did not mention the nationality of the captain.

Carrying some 20-thousand tons of chemical materials, the MV Theresa VIII was taken on Monday in the south Somali Basin, some 320 kilometers northwest of the Seychelles.

The EU’s naval force said the Singaporean-operated tanker had been heading for the Kenyan port city of Mombasa at the time of the pirate attack.