SEOUL: Seoul is preparing to transfer five pirates captured off Somalia to South Korea to put them on trial for hijacking, news reports said Saturday.

The pirates -- seized in a raid on a hijacked South Korean freighter and taken to Oman -- will travel on a special flight and arrive at Gimhae airport near the southern port of Busan on Sunday, Yonhap news agency and YTN TV said.

A Korea Coast Guard (KCG) spokesman told AFP the case would be handled by the KCG South Regional Headquarters in Busan, where a team of some 50 investigators were ready.

He declined to confirm the details of the transfer.

Piracy has surged off lawless Somalia in recent years, and international warships patrol the area in a bid to clamp down on the problem, but most pirates caught at sea are freed almost straight away because there is nowhere to try them.

Under South Korean laws the pirates face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted of shooting the Samho Jewelry's captain, who has been in serious condition with gunshot wounds to his stomach.

If he dies the offenders could face death sentences.

The wounded captain, Seok Hae-Kyun, was shot three times by pirates when South Korean navy commandos raided his vessel earlier this month, six days after it had been hijacked in the Arabian Sea.

Seok, 58, will be airlifted home from hospital in Oman late Saturday in a medically-equipped plane, a foreign ministry official said Friday.

He remains unconscious after a second operation Thursday to treat an infection, his doctors said.

The skipper was the only one of 21 crew members wounded in the rescue, in which eight pirates were killed and five seized.

Local media have hailed him as one of the heroes of the operation.

As a South Korean destroyer pursued his ship, Seok stalled for time by steering it in a zigzag course and mixing water into the engine oil, despite constant threats from his captors, military officials said.

A South Korean medical team, accompanied by Seok's wife and son, arrived in Oman Wednesday to check if the skipper was fit to fly home. Yonhap news agency said the team had decided to airlift him for treatment in hospital in Seoul.