An oil tanker carrying 17 crew members has been hijacked by armed pirates off the coast of Somalia, according to multiple security officials, in a sign of a troubling resurgence of maritime crime in the region.
The vessel, identified as Honour 25, was seized late Wednesday by six gunmen approximately 30 nautical miles from the Somali shoreline. Officials said the attackers overran the ship in a coordinated assault, though details of how they managed to intercept the tanker remain unclear.
The hijacking underscores a renewed wave of piracy in the Indian Ocean, where such incidents had largely subsided until about three years ago. In recent months, however, fishing trawlers and container ships have increasingly been targeted, raising alarm among regional authorities and international shipping operators.
Security officials from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region reported that the tanker was transporting approximately 18,500 barrels of oil. The seizure of a fuel-laden vessel bound for the Somali capital, Mogadishu, is expected to heighten concerns in the city, where petrol prices have already surged amid ongoing geopolitical tensions linked to the US-Israel conflict with Iran.
According to maritime tracking data from ShipAtlas, the Honour 25 departed from the port of Berbera in Somaliland on 20 February. It later traveled near the coast of the United Arab Emirates, circling waters close to the Strait of Hormuz before reversing course on 2 April and heading toward Mogadishu.
Under pirate control, the tanker is now anchored near the Somali coast between the fishing towns of Xaafun and Bander Beyla. Sources indicate that five additional armed men have since boarded the vessel, further consolidating control.
The crew consists of 10 Pakistani nationals, four Indonesians, one Indian, one Sri Lankan, and one from Myanmar.
Authorities believe the attackers launched their operation from a remote area near Bander Beyla, though questions remain about the apparent ease with which they carried out the hijacking.
As of now, neither Somali government officials nor the European Naval Force, which coordinates anti-piracy operations in the region, has issued an official statement regarding the incident.
The hijacking is likely to intensify scrutiny of maritime security in one of the world’s most strategically vital shipping corridors, as concerns grow over the potential return of large-scale piracy off the Horn of Africa.
