Oil tanker hijacked off Yemen coast taken toward Somalia, report says

Mohamed GabobeSunday May 3, 2026

Gulf of Aden (file photo)

An oil tanker has been seized by Somali pirates off Yemen’s coast, according to several Somali security officials who spoke to the BBC.

Yemen’s coastguard said earlier that the MT Eureka had been hijacked and was being taken toward Somalia. Security sources said the vessel was overpowered by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, close to the port of Qana.

The attackers are understood to have left a remote stretch of coastline near the seaside town of Qandala, on the Gulf of Aden, three separate security officials from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland State region told the BBC.

The incident is the second tanker hijacking in the area within 10 days, coming after Somali pirates seized Honor 25 on April 22.

Honor 25 was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil destined for Mogadishu.

According to a security official, MT Eureka was flying the flag of Togo, a west African country, before it was taken over by gunmen at 5:00 AM local time (03:00 BST) on Sunday morning.

The tanker is now moving through the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia and is expected to reach Somali waters and anchor there in the coming hours.

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Transportation Operation (UKMTO) said on Friday that “armed persons” aboard a “skiff” had approached a bulk carrier near Al-Mukala, Yemen.

Three separate security officials said those armed men had set out from a remote coastal area near the fishing town of Caluula (Alula), which is 209km (130 miles) from the location where hijackers departed to seize MT Eureka.

Together, the two incidents suggest piracy is widening along Somalia’s extensive coastline, the longest in mainland Africa at 3,333km (2071 miles).

With today’s seizure, pirates have now successfully hijacked four vessels in the past two weeks.

So far, Somali authorities and the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), which leads anti-piracy operations in Somali waters, have not commented on the latest attack.

Somali piracy, which had been in decline since 2011, has picked up again since late 2023, when Houthi rebels began attacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. Those assaults drew international navies away to confront the Houthi threat, creating what armed groups along the Somali coast appear to have exploited.

“The on-going crisis with the pirates is much worse than many realize. There are increasing movements (of armed groups) all over the coast” a security official from the semi-autonomous Puntland State region told the BBC.