Mumbai, Aug. 26 -- Two commercial vessels carrying a total of 22 Indian nationals were hijacked by armed pirates in separate incidents off Yemen and Somalia, a senior shipping ministry official said. The official said the Indian crew members aboard both vessels were reported to be safe.
The Eritrea-flagged oil products tanker M.T. Sibu 1, with a crew of 20 including 16 Indians, was seized on August 20 about 30 nautical miles off the Yemeni coast. The crew list also named one Syrian, one Sudanese and one Iraqi national, with one nationality unconfirmed. Maritime tracking showed an unauthorised vessel approached before control was lost and the RPSL agency S K S Krishi Marine Services reported six armed pirates on board and was directed to file incident reports and updates via the e-Navik system.
The Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF was seized on August 17 off Puntland with ten crew, including six Indians. Reports said eight pirates armed with AK-47s in two skiffs boarded the vessel, which was taken about three and a half nautical miles off Marraya in Eyl district and steered toward the Nugaal coast. The crew initially took refuge in a citadel but were later brought to the bridge; no injuries were reported.
Maritime security reports indicated the cargo comprised Turkish weapons, communications and satellite equipment bound for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu, and that the hijackers were suspected of involvement in an earlier seizure. The renewed attacks add to security pressures on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean.
The Forward Seamen's Union of India raised concerns on social media about dangers facing Indian seafarers and circulated footage it described as a prior hijacking in the Strait of Hormuz, although it was unclear if that referred to a separate event. The 2026 BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report estimated India supplies 311,936 seafarers, underscoring the country's exposure to such risks.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.