Saber Eid and Rania Abushamala
19 July 2026•Update: 19 July 2026
A vessel was hijacked while sailing eastward in the Gulf of Aden and diverted to Somali territorial waters, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said Saturday.
The agency said it received a report Friday of an incident 65 nautical miles (120 kilometers, 75 miles) south of the Yemeni city of Al Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province.
Unidentified individuals boarded the vessel as it sailed eastward, said the UKMTO.
The agency later informed that the vessel had been directed toward Somali territorial waters, prompting it to reclassify the incident as “Hijack.”
“Authorities are investigating” the incident, it added.
Yemen’s Coast Guard said Friday that it was monitoring the seizure of the Asana oil tanker more than 26 nautical miles off the coast of Hadramout.
The tanker had been seized in an act of piracy carried out by a group of Somali pirates, the Coast Guard claimed.
The statement did not disclose the vessel’s ownership, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry confirmed May 11 that an oil tanker carrying eight Egyptian sailors had been hijacked near the Somali coast.
The incident came days after Yemeni authorities reported the hijacking of another vessel carrying 12 Egyptian and Indian sailors.
Piracy was widespread off Somalia’s coast from 2008 to 2018 before declining. Incidents began increasing again in late 2023 amid heightened regional security tensions.
Separately, Yemen’s Houthi group threatened on April 12 to escalate military operations if US-Israeli attacks on Iran resumed.
