Officials said Thursday that two commercial ships with a combined crew of 22 Indian nationals were seized in separate hijacking incidents near Yemen and Somalia, underscoring a resurgence of piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa.
The Eritrean-flagged oil products tanker M.T. Sibu 1, with 16 Indian nationals among its 20-member crew, was seized by six armed pirates in the Gulf of Aden, approximately 30 nautical miles off Yemen’s coast.
All 20 crew members were confirmed to be safe in a report issued by the Directorate of Maritime Administration, though updated information on the vessel and its crew was still pending.
The crew is made up of 16 Indian nationals, along with one Syrian, one Sudanese, and one Iraqi national, while the nationality of one seafarer has yet to be verified.
The Recruitment and Placement Service Licence agency has been asked to submit an incident report and subsequent periodic updates through the e-Navik online marine casualty reporting system, the report said.
Sumit Kant Singh of SKS Krishiv Marine Services said his company had recruited four of the crew members and provided their details to the Directorate of Maritime Administration.
In a separate incident, pirates captured the Cameroon-flagged cargo ship M/V LUTUF off the coast of Somalia’s Puntland on Monday.
The vessel was carrying six Indian nationals among its 10-member crew, according to a Somali official quoted by the Associated Press. The official stated that the ship was taken about 3.5 nautical miles off Marraya in Puntland’s Eyl district and then sailed towards the Nugaal coast.
The crew also comprised one Turkish national, one Georgian, and two Serbian security personnel.
The vessel, owned by Polar Movement Shipping, was carrying weapons bound for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu, as well as communications and satellite equipment, the official said.
Eight pirates, suspected to belong to the same group that hijacked the M/V Sward in April, seized the vessel and steered it toward the coastline near Garmaal in Puntland’s Dangoroyo district, he said.
The situation regarding the LUTUF, its crew, and its cargo remained uncertain, and Turkish officials had yet to issue any statement on the incident.