By Faisal AliSaturday July 18, 2026
Somali pirates have seized an oil tanker off Yemen’s coast, according to the country’s coastguard, marking the latest apparent hijacking in a region where piracy has returned sharply this year.
The tanker, the Asana, was taken on Friday about 26 nautical miles (48km) from Yemen’s Hadramawt province, the Yemeni coastguard said.
The UK’s maritime security agency, UKMTO, said military sources had reported an “illegal boarding” 65 nautical miles (120km) south of the port of Mukalla. According to the agency, “unauthorised personnel” boarded the vessel.
UKMTO advised ships operating nearby to remain alert and report any suspicious activity, saying the incident was still being investigated.
Initial accounts suggested one person had been seen close to the tanker’s bridge, while the ship was travelling slowly southeast in the direction of Somalia.
Yemeni officials said they were working with international partners and maritime agencies to establish the tanker’s condition and monitor its course.
Naval ships, including a Yemeni coastguard vessel, were said to be making for the tanker as aircraft conducted reconnaissance flights above the area.
The seizure comes amid a notable revival of Somali piracy, a threat that had remained largely quiet for more than a decade before resurging this year.
The Asana was captured along one of the busiest maritime corridors in the world.
The Gulf of Aden leads into the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the quickest sea route linking Asia and Europe. An estimated 12 to 15 percent of global trade by value moves through the canal annually, as does about 30 percent of the world’s container traffic.
Somali pirate groups were held responsible for more than 1,000 attacks between 2005 and 2012, generating roughly $400 million in ransom payments. An international response then curbed the threat, with hijackings almost entirely ending by 2013.
In 2023, the shipping industry removed the “high risk” classification for the Indian Ocean, concluding that the danger had declined sufficiently.
Since April, however, the French navy’s Mica Center has logged 18 piracy incidents and hijackings. At least three other vessels remain in pirate hands while ransom is sought.
Analysts have cited overstretched naval deployments amid conflicts in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz, the rerouting of merchant traffic nearer Somali waters, and continuing instability within Somalia as factors behind the renewed danger.
Late last month, Egypt‘s foreign ministry said it was using its embassies in Mogadishu and Riyadh to seek the release of Egyptian crew members aboard the Eureka, a tanker seized off Somalia in May.
On Thursday, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, signed a Status of Forces Agreement with Djibouti. The deal guarantees continued access and logistical assistance for vessels and aircraft involved in the Atalanta and Aspides naval missions, which patrol the Red Sea and Horn of Africa.
Speaking in Djibouti, located along the shores of the Bab-al-Mandeb chokepoint, Kallas said the Aspides mission had protected more than 670 merchant vessels and rescued 128 seafarers in less than two and a half years.
