Pirates are suspected of hijacking a cargo vessel off the coast of Somalia, according to officials and maritime security groups. The reported hijacking on Monday was the second off Somalia in less than a week, targeting the Sward, which was carrying cement from Suez, Egypt, to the Kenyan port city of Mombasa and was flying the flag of St Kitts and Nevis.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the Sward was hijacked 6 nautical miles (11 km) northeast of the Somali coastal town of Garacad. The British maritime security group Vanguard reported that the ship’s 15-person crew comprised two Indian nationals and 13 Syrians. “The vessel is currently assessed to be under pirate control and proceeding toward the Somali coastline,” it said, adding that the Puntland Maritime Police Force had been notified.
An operations officer from that force told The Associated Press that nine pirates had boarded the Sward and taken control. “The ship is currently under the control of armed men, and we are monitoring the situation,” he said.
Somali pirates caused havoc off the Horn of Africa from 2008 to 2018, but international naval patrols and improved maritime security greatly reduced their attacks. However, pirate activity began to pick up again in late 2023 amid a decline in anti-piracy patrols and the diversion of funds to counter Houthi rebels in Yemen threatening shipping around the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
On Wednesday, an oil tanker that left a Red Sea port in the breakaway region of Somaliland was seized in waters off Puntland while heading to Mogadishu. In November, armed assailants using machineguns and rocket launchers attacked a commercial tanker off the coast of Mogadishu.
The essential shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28, has blocked the flow of a substantial portion of petroleum that powers the global economy. Some ships have been diverted to the Suez Canal or taken the much longer journey around the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Africa to reach Asia and Europe.
Source: www.aljazeera.com