Media: Pirates attack tanker off the coast of Somalia
A Panama-flagged tanker vessel has allegedly been hijacked by six people off the coast of Somalia, report Reuters and security firm Dryad Global.
News on Somalia.
A Panama-flagged tanker vessel has allegedly been hijacked by six people off the coast of Somalia, report Reuters and security firm Dryad Global.
Armed guards on a container ship warded off repeated attacks by pirates last week in the waters off the Horn of Africa, reports USA Today.
A budget crisis means Somalian security forces on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes have not been paid for months.
For the third time within a short period, Somalian pirates are believed to have captured yet another vessel in the Gulf of Aden, writes Reuters. The hijacking allegedly took place Saturday.
Somali pirates have hijacked a vessel with the intention of using it as a mothership for attacks on larger vessels, say Somali police according to Reuters. This comes shortly after another commercial vessel was hijacked in the region for the first time in five years.
A hijacking of a tanker vessel in the waters off the coast of Somalia on Monday shows that there is still a high risk in the region. "This is absolutely a return of piracy," says the head of the UN’s Global Maritime Crime Programme.
The naval forces disappeared and ships have started to sail closer to the coast of Somalia, so it is no surprise that a pirate attack has occurred off Somalia, says CEO of Risk Intelligence, Hans Tino Hansen. The outcome of the new attack will be decisive in terms of whether piracy in the region escalates once again.
Pirates have hijacked a tanker vessel off the coast of Somalia, reports Reuters. This is the first commercial vessel hijacked by Somali pirates since 2012.
The German shipowners' association warns about the continued threat of piracy off the Horn of Africa, and that piracy could intensify if the protection of commercial vessels in the region eases up.
Even though there were no registered pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden in 2015, it is still too early to withdraw the naval vessels or ease the monitoring efforts, warn the German shipowners in a comment on the latest piracy figures.
US-based security firm points to a growing risk of attacks and hijackings in waters near the Horn of Africa in 2016, reports Bloomberg.