{"id":328,"date":"2026-04-28T10:19:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/?p=328"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:19:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:19:25","slug":"multiple-vessel-hijacked-off-somali-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/multiple-vessel-hijacked-off-somali-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"MULTIPLE VESSEL HIJACKED OFF SOMALI COAST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:#a5dbfd\" class=\"has-inline-color has-global-color-3-color\">An oil tanker, <em>Honour 25<\/em>, has been hijacked by armed pirates approximately <strong>30 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia<\/strong>, with the incident confirmed by UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Incident Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hijacking occurred late Wednesday when <strong>six armed individuals<\/strong> boarded and took control of the vessel while underway. The tanker was carrying approximately <strong>18,500 barrels of oil<\/strong> and was bound for Mogadishu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The vessel is currently <strong>anchored off the Somali coast between Xaafun and Bander Beyla<\/strong>, with <strong>additional armed personnel reported onboard<\/strong>, indicating consolidation of pirate control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crew Composition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Total Crew:<\/strong> 17\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>10 Pakistani nationals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4 Indonesian nationals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 Indian national<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 Sri Lankan national<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 Myanmar national<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Voyage Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The vessel departed <strong>Berbera (Somaliland)<\/strong> on <strong>20 February<\/strong>, later operating near the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, before altering course on <strong>2 April<\/strong> toward Somalia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Escalation \u2013 Multiple Incidents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>UKMTO<\/strong> has reported a <strong>second tanker hijacking<\/strong> approximately <strong>45 NM northeast of Mareeyo, Somalia<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Last Known Position:<\/strong> 08\u00b056\u2019N, 050\u00b032\u2019E<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Third Incident (Attempted Hijack):<\/strong><br>A vessel identified as <em>SWARD<\/em> was <strong>approached and boarded by armed individuals<\/strong> near the <strong>Godobjiran area<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The vessel owner has notified the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The vessel is currently <strong>reported to be proceeding toward the shoreline under duress<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>Within the last 72 hours, two vessels have been successfully hijacked, with a third under threat<\/strong>, indicating a <strong>rapid and coordinated resurgence of piracy activity<\/strong> in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Security Assessment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This marks a <strong>serious escalation in Somali piracy<\/strong>, expanding targets from fishing vessels to <strong>commercial tankers and merchant ships<\/strong>. Immediate concerns include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Safety of crew onboard all affected vessels<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disruption to fuel and cargo supply chains into Mogadishu<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Heightened risk across the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Advisory to Mariners<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All vessels transiting high-risk areas are strongly advised to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Implement <strong>BMP5 anti-piracy measures without exception<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maintain <strong>maximum bridge vigilance and radar watch<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Report immediately to <strong>UKMTO \/ MSCHOA<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Deploy Armed Security Teams <\/strong>\u00a0where permitted<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Avoid close coastal routing where feasible<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"523\" height=\"325\" src=\"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-333\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.6093030280148002;width:615px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3.png 523w, https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-230x143.png 230w, https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-350x217.png 350w, https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-3-480x298.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 523px) 100vw, 523px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An oil tanker, Honour 25, has been hijacked by armed pirates approximately 30 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, with the incident confirmed by UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). Incident Overview The hijacking occurred late Wednesday when six armed individuals boarded and took control of the vessel while underway. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[423,292,241,420,419,421,248,275,271,240,422,213,225,418,249],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine_news_update","tag-bmp5","tag-crewsafety","tag-globaltrade","tag-gulfofaden","tag-indianocean","tag-maritimealert","tag-maritimesecurity","tag-navalsecurity","tag-oceansecurity","tag-oiltanker","tag-riskmanagement","tag-shippingindustry","tag-shippingnews","tag-somaliapiracy","tag-supplychain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}