MOMBASA, Kenya, April 2 (Xinhua) --Three crew members of a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) vessel attacked off Somalia waters were on Friday rushed to a Kenyan hospital in Mombasa after docking at the port of Mombasa.

The vessel, named Chol San Bong Chong Nyon Ho, was attacked by pirates on its way to Somalia from Brazil with a sugar cargo on Wednesday.

Port police chief Ayub Gitonga said the vessel had a 40 crew member on board at the time of attack where eight of them were injured.

He said the vessel docked at the port of Mombasa to take the injured to hospital for further treatment. "The crew had documents, we could not deny them entry for treatment," said Gitonga adding that they had been cleared by immigration officers.

He said were it not for good fire-fighting equipment the vessel would have caught fire under the pirates' attack.

The vessel had a large mark suspected to have been caused by a rocket propelled grenade launcher during that daring attack

A crew member on board the vessel suspected to have been injured was seen limping with a bandage on one of his legs.

Despite a heavy presence of well equipped international naval forces patrolling the high seas of the Indian Ocean, Somali pirates have continued to launch attacks on ships passing through the corridor.

Almost three weeks ago, eight pirates were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment after the court found them guilty of attempting to hijack a ship.