ATHENS - The crew of a Greek oil tanker on Tuesday used water hoses and flares to repel a dawn attack by pirates off Oman, Greek harbor police said.

The ship, the Sikinos, owned by the Greek-based company Cycladic Maritime and which has a crew made up of eight Greeks and 16 Filipinos, was en route to China, said a company official, adding that the attackers were "probably Somalian."

The attack proved that Somalian pirate gangs were increasingly "striking further and further from their bases," the official said.

The pirates tried to board the vessel about 550 nautical miles southeast of Oman, according to Greek police.

On Sunday, Somalian pirates seized another Greek ship, supertanker Maran Centaurus along with 28 crew members. On Monday it was reported to be headed for the lawless Horn of Africa state's coast.

The ship with a crew of nine Greeks, 16 Filipinos, two Ukrainians and a Romanian, was the second super-size tanker to be captured this year.