Yemen says hijacked oil tanker was headed for Somalia

By Daniel Tari and News AgenciesSaturday May 2, 2026

Pirates appear to be exploiting a widening security gap in the region, with officials saying patrols in the Red Sea have been stretched by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the diversion of commercial shipping lanes.

Somalia maritime police from PMPF patrol in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of semi-autonomous Puntland State State in Somalia [File: Jackson Njehia/AP]

Yemen’s Coast Guard said on Saturday that it is trying to track down an oil tanker seized off the country’s coast and now believed to be moving toward Somalia.

The “M/T Eureka” was taken off Yemen’s southeastern Shabwa province after armed men boarded the vessel and forced it under their control, the coastguard said in a statement. The hijackers then altered course, steering the tanker into the Gulf of Aden and toward the Somali shoreline.

The incident is at least the fourth near Somalia in recent weeks, underscoring a renewed uptick in pirate activity that officials say has been fuelled by the war in Iran. With naval resources in the Red Sea increasingly tied up and civilian routes being rerouted, authorities say criminal groups have been encouraged to strike.

The coastguard said it was coordinating with international partners and authorities in the Gulf of Aden in an effort to recover the tanker and secure the crew, whose condition remains unknown.

It also acknowledged that its response is constrained by Yemen’s severe economic crisis.

‘Window of opportunity’

Attacks on ships off the Somali coast have become more common since the US and Israel began their war on Iran in February.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has upgraded the piracy threat level along Somalia’s coastline to “substantial” and urged vessels to “transit with caution”.

European Union naval forces operating in the area said the Iran war has created a “window of opportunity” for piracy networks.

A tanker carrying about 18,000 barrels of oil was seized near Somalia’s coast on April 21. In the next five days, two additional vessels were also taken.

Somalia’s coastline was once the world’s most notorious piracy hotspot, particularly in the early to mid-2000s. At its height, the World Bank estimated, piracy was draining as much as $18bn a year from the global economy.

EU naval force data show that more than 200 attacks were recorded in 2011 alone.

An international naval coalition later brought the threat largely under control, driving attacks down to nearly zero by 2014.

But incidents started to climb again in 2023, a trend some analysts link to anti-piracy patrols being shifted toward the Red Sea to confront Houthi attacks on ships in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis have said those attacks were carried out in response to the persecution of Palestinians.