Somali pirates have hijacked the Togo-flagged oil tanker MT Eureka in the Gulf of Aden and are taking it towards Somalia, multiple regional security officials told the BBC, with The Island carrying the report on Sunday.
The vessel was overrun by gunmen at 5:00 a.m. local time near the Yemeni port of Qana, sources from the semi-autonomous Puntland region said. The pirates set out from a remote stretch of coast near the seaside town of Qandala. The tanker is now sailing in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia and is expected to anchor in Somali waters within hours.
It is the second oil tanker hijacked in the area in 10 days, after Somali pirates seized the MV Honor 25 with 18,500 barrels of oil — and a Sri Lankan among 17 crew — on April 22. Today’s hijacking is described as the fourth successful pirate seizure in two weeks.
In a separate incident reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) on Friday, “armed persons” on a skiff approached a bulk carrier off Al-Mukala, Yemen, having departed a coastal area near the fishing town of Caluula — 209 kilometres from where the MT Eureka attackers set out. Officials say the geographic spread shows piracy is now extending across Somalia’s 3,333 km coastline, the longest in mainland Africa.
Somali authorities and the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), which oversees the regional anti-piracy mission, had not commented on the latest hijacking at the time of publication. Somali piracy had been in steady decline since 2011 but began surging again from late 2023, when Houthi attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea forced international navies to redirect resources, leaving room for armed groups on the Somali coast to operate. “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 Puntland security official told the BBC.
The resurgence is unfolding alongside the US naval enforcement campaign in the Indian Ocean and the contested status of the Strait of Hormuz, all of which have pushed shipping insurance premiums sharply higher this cycle.
