Two vessels hijacked off Yemen, Somalia; 22 Indians onboard

New Delhi: Two commercial vessels with a total of 22 Indians onboard have been hijacked in international waters off Yemen and Somalia in two separate incidents.

The vessel hijacked off the coast of Yemen was an Eritrea-flagged oil products tanker, MT Sibu 1, carrying 16 Indians among its 20 crew members. Six armed pirates hijacked the vessel in the Gulf of Aden, according to a report by the Press Trust of India (PTI). Citing officials, the report said the Indian crew members are safe.

According to a report by the Recruitment and Placement Service Licence (RPSL) agency, SKS Krishi Marine Services (OPC) Private Limited, six armed pirates are currently on board the vessel and have taken control of it. The agency has been directed to file the incident report, along with subsequent periodic updates, through the e-Navik online marine casualty reporting system for review and record-keeping.

The crew comprises 16 Indian nationals, one Syrian, one Sudanese and one Iraqi national. One crew member’s nationality has not yet been confirmed. All 20 crew members were reported safe, according to a report prepared by the Directorate of Maritime Administration.

For MT Sibu 1, VesselFinder last received a position update 8 days ago. VesselFinder is a global ship-tracking platform that uses AIS (Automatic Identification System) data from vessels, satellites and coastal receivers to show real-time and historical positions of ships at sea.

MV Lutuf

In a separate incident, a Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel, MV Lutuf, with six Indians among its 10 crew members, was hijacked by pirates off Somalia’s Puntland coast on August 17.

According to a report by the Somali Guardian, a drone strike killed four suspected Somali pirates near Garmaal on Puntland’s Nugaal coast on Tuesday, a day after gunmen hijacked MV Lutuf off Somalia’s northeastern coast. After hijacking the vessel, the armed men reportedly disembarked onto a skiff to procure supplies from the shore. It was during this onshore trip that the drone strike hit near Garmaal, killing four of the suspected hijackers.

The general cargo ship was boarded by eight armed men carrying AK-47s and other weapons, operating from two skiffs, on August 17 at approximately 4 nautical miles south of Mareeyo, Somalia, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO).

An official cited by PTI said the crew initially mustered in the citadel, but the pirates gained access and subsequently brought them to the bridge. The vessel remains under pirate control; no injuries have been reported so far.

According to VesselFinder, the last position received for the ship was 11 days ago.

These two piracy attempts come more than a month after the Indian Navy’s INS Trikand foiled a piracy attack on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden on July 1. Indian Navy Marine Commandos (MARCOS) boarded the affected vessel, MV Golden Arsenal, soon after; it had one Indian crew member on board. The Indian Navy said timely intervention ensured the safety of the merchant vessel.

Indian Navy’s efforts to thwart piracy

The Indian Navy, owing to its rapid deployments, has stood out in responding to piracy incidents since late 2023, when Somali piracy surged for the first time since 2017, when MV Ruen was hijacked, prompting the Navy to send warships into the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.

In March 2024, INS Kolkata cornered the Ruen and an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 airdropped MARCOS commandos onto it, forcing 35 pirates to surrender and freeing all 17 hostages unharmed.

The pirates were brought back to Mumbai for prosecution under India’s 2022 anti-piracy law, rather than being released at sea. Around this period, the Navy also carried out multiple rescues, deploying 21 ships and 5,000 personnel across roughly 18 incidents in 100 days. This aggressive response created a strong deterrent effect, keeping the region largely quiet through late 2024 and into early 2025, until piracy attempts picked up again in late 2025.