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Piracy off Yemen and Somalia
Somali pirates hijacked the Eritrean-flagged oil-products tanker M.T. Sibu 1 off Yemen and took it toward Somalia’s Puntland coast, with six armed pirates seizing the vessel about 136 nautical miles (252 kilometers) east of al-Mukalla, Yemen.
“Six armed pirates hijacked the Eritrean-flagged M.T. Sibu 1”
A separate incident saw pirates seize the Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF off Somalia’s Puntland coast, with eight armed pirates boarding and operating from two skiffs.
Across the two hijackings, a total of 22 Indian nationals were on board, with 16 Indians on M.T. Sibu 1 and six Indians on M/V LUTUF, and officials said the Indian crew members were safe.
The Associated Press reported that the piracy resurgence has seen six commercial vessels seized since April across the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean, placing the attacks in a broader pattern of maritime insecurity.
Officials, crews, and demands
A senior shipping ministry official told NDTV that “There are two vessels. Both of these vessels are foreign-flagged,” adding that 22 Indian nationals were on board and that “they are safe.”
The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India was “in touch with the officials with regards to this so that we can take care of their security and well being,” while the Indian High Commission in Kenya said it had taken up the matter with “the concerned authorities in Somalia.”
The Hindu reported that an Eritrea-flagged oil products tanker, M T Sibu 1, with 20 crew members including 16 Indians, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on August 20, and that a Cameroon-flagged cargo ship with six Indians among its 10 crew members was hijacked off Somalia’s Puntland coast on August 17.
In the NDTV account, the official said six armed pirates were aboard M.T. Sibu and took control of the vessel, while eight armed pirates with AK-47-type weapons boarded M/V LUTUF and operated from two skiffs.
US sanctions and regional risk
The South China Morning Post said the Sibu 1 was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department last year for allegedly belonging to an Iranian “shadow fleet” used to transport petroleum products seeking to evade US sanctions.
“sanctioned by the US Treasury Department last year”
That same report placed the hijacking in a sequence of pirate seizures, noting that the Sibu 1 was the sixth commercial vessel hijacked by Somali pirates since April 21, when the Palau-flagged tanker Honor 25 was seized off Somalia.
The Tribune-Democrat described the incident as part of a resurgence that has seen six commercial vessels seized since April across the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean, and said Somali pirates took the tanker toward Somalia’s Puntland coast.
With the attacks occurring near Yemen and Somalia, the sources frame the situation as an ongoing threat to merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean, where the piracy resurgence has continued through multiple vessel seizures since April.