Two Commercial Vessels with 22 Indian Crew Members Hijacked by Pirates off Yemen and Somalia
Armed pirates seized an oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden and a cargo ship off Puntland in separate incidents this week. All Indian crew are reported safe according to the Shipping Ministry.
New Delhi1 min read
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Two commercial vessels carrying a total of 22 Indian nationals have been hijacked by armed pirates in separate incidents off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, a senior Shipping Ministry official said on Friday.
The Indian crew members aboard both vessels remain safe, according to the latest information available to the ministry.
The first vessel, the Eritrea-flagged oil products tanker MT Sibu 1, was seized on August 20 in the Gulf of Aden, about 30 nautical miles off the Yemeni coast. It carried 20 crew members, including 16 Indians, one Syrian, one Sudanese, one Iraqi and one seafarer whose nationality has not yet been confirmed. Six armed pirates boarded the ship and took control, according to the Recruitment and Placement Service Licence agency S K S Krishi Marine Services.
The second vessel, the Cameroon-flagged cargo ship M/V LUTUF, was hijacked on August 17 off Somalia's Puntland coast near Marraya in the Eyl district. It had 10 crew members, six of them Indian. Reports indicate eight pirates armed with AK-47-type weapons approached in two skiffs.
The Shipping Ministry has directed the RPSL agency to submit incident reports and periodic updates through the e-Navik online marine casualty reporting system. Indian authorities continue to monitor the situations closely.
These incidents occur against a backdrop of intermittent pirate activity in the western Indian Ocean, where international naval forces maintain patrols along key shipping routes.
