The Jordan Maritime Authority on Saturday said Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers were unloading tonnes of rice from a Jordanian ship that drifted into rebel-controlled waters after its engine failed. Farah3, a 150-metre ship owned by the Salam International Transport and Trading Company, was carrying Friday 14,000 tonnes of Indian rice bound for South Africa. Motasem Sakit, director general of the maritime authority, said he did not know if the rebels would release the ship.The Sri Lankan defence ministry said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam seized the merchant vessel with a 25-member crew, adding that a maritime distress message, indicating that the vessel was “under armed pirate attack”, was received by Britain’s Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre, which conveyed it to the Sri Lankan naval authorities. But the rebels denied the accusations, saying that they rescued the crew of 11 Jordanians, 13 Egyptians and an Iraqi, and sailors “were being taken to safety despite rough seas while the ship was dangerously too close to the shore”. Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh, however, described the incident “as an act of piracy”.