Six armed individuals took control of a tanker off the coast of Yemen on Thursday. The ship is now heading towards Somalia.
According to the British security company Vanguard, it is about the oil tanker SEAMULL, also known as SIBU 1. The vessel was hijacked approximately 250 kilometers off the coast.
The crew managed to send an SOS signal, announcing that they were boarded by an unauthorized ship while sailing westward, reports hotnews.ro.
After an intensification of pirate activity in 2011, their actions significantly decreased, following international missions and the creation of marine police units, trained by the EU. However, in 2026, the number of such offenses intensified.
At least five ships have been hijacked so far by pirates from Somalia this year.
Somalia has been in a state of conflict and chaos since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted from power. Since then, rival armed groups and Islamist military leaders have been vying for supremacy, and commercial navigation is constantly threatened by pirate attacks.