Mohammed Said, the leader of the group which 11 days ago captured the Sirius Star, carrying two million barrels of crude oil, told AFP that protracted talks were neither helping them, the ship's owners or the crew.

'We are urging the owners of the Saudi tanker to have an honest dialogue in order to end the crisis,' he said.

'We need them (vessel's owners) to call their captain and our members on the Sirius Star so we can speed up the negotiations.

'Too much delay is not good for us and for the owners of the tanker and the crew as well. We are not threatening them but we are urging them to be honest.'

The 330-metre oil carrier is the biggest vessel ever seized by pirates.

Said on Tuesday said talks with the ship's owners were continuing and that the crew was being treated well.

Two British crew members have backed up the claim.

'Everything is OK, we've got no mistreatment or anything, we're being treated quite well,' Peter French, the chief engineer on the Sirius Star, told ITV News television by telephone.

Second officer James Grady said the 25-strong crew were not being allowed on deck. But while he said their captors were heavily armed, he said they appeared 'quite relaxed' and had not hurt the hostages.

The pirates have been in the world's spotlight since hijacking the Sirius Star.

The international community has been rushing naval ships to the region in a bid to combat piracy, vowing tough action against a surge in attacks which is threatening major disruptions in international trade.

Last week the Indian navy sunk a Thai fishing boat after mistaking it for a Somali pirate 'mother vessel' used by sea bandits launch attacks, a maritime watchdog said.

One Thai crew member died and 14 others were still missing after the November 18 accident in the Gulf of Aden, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) piracy reporting centre.

Somali pirates have carried out around 100 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean since the start of this year. They still hold 17 ships and more than 250 crew.

Many experts have argued that the torrent of pirate attacks off the Somali coast can never be completely resolved unless the causes are not tackled.

The Horn of Africa country has been plagued by relentless fighting involving myriad clans, Islamist groups as well as Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces. -- AFP