Pirates Hijack Oil Tanker Off Somalia Coast

Pirates have seized an oil tanker carrying 17 crew members off Somalia’s coast, multiple security officials told the BBC, in a brazen reminder of a menace once thought to be fading in the region.

The vessel, Honour 25, was taken over late on Wednesday by six armed men when it was about 30 nautical miles offshore, the officials said.

For years, this stretch of the Indian Ocean was synonymous with pirate attacks, but until three years ago such incidents had largely vanished. Since then, however, piracy has returned, with fishing trawlers and container ships among the targets.

The capture of a tanker bound for Mogadishu is likely to heighten nerves in the Somali capital, where petrol prices have already tripled since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.

Security officials in Puntland State told the BBC that the ship was carrying 18,500 barrels of oil.

According to the ShipAtlas website, the hijacked vessel left Berbera, in the self-declared republic of North Western State of Somalia, on 20 February and reached waters off the United Arab Emirates shortly after the conflict began.

The tracking data then shows the ship looping near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz before turning back on 2 April and heading toward Mogadishu.

Now in pirate hands, the tanker — which has 17 crew on board, including 10 Pakistanis, four Indonesians, one Indian, one Sri Lankan and one person from Myanmar — has anchored near the Somali coast between the fishing towns of Xaafun and Bander Beyla.

Officials said five additional armed men have since come aboard the Honour 25.

Authorities believe the attackers launched from a remote area near Bander Beyla, though it remains unclear how they were able to intercept and overpower the tanker.

Neither the Somali authorities nor the European Naval Force, which leads anti-piracy patrols in Somali waters, has issued a statement on the hijacking.