Somali pirates hijacked a cargo ship with a crew of 28 Egyptians near the coast of Somalia, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Thursday. About 15 pirates, some of them heavily-armed, attacked the Blue Star, which carried 6,000 tonnes of fertilizer as it was heading east, said foreign ministry official Ahmed Rizq. "The crew are hostages ... there are efforts underway to conduct the necessary talks to free the ship," Rizq said in a statement. In a related development, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said a Malaysian military helicopter horrified Somali pirates who were trying to hijack an Indian ship in the Gulf of Aden yesterday.