NEW DELHI: Two commercial vessels carrying a total of 22 Indian nationals have been hijacked by armed pirates in separate incidents off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, a senior Shipping Ministry official said on Friday.
According to the latest information available with the authorities, all the Indian crew members are safe and no injuries have been reported.
An Eritrea-flagged oil products tanker, MT Sibu 1, was hijacked by armed pirates in the Gulf of Aden on August 20, around 30 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen.
The vessel has a 20-member crew comprising 16 Indians, one Syrian national, one Sudanese national, one Iraqi national and one seafarer whose nationality is yet to be confirmed.
The official said that, as reported by Recruitment and Placement Service Licence agency S K S Krishi Marine Services (OPC) Private Limited, six armed pirates are presently onboard the tanker and have taken control of the vessel.
The RPSL agency has been advised to submit an incident report and subsequent periodic updates through the e-Navik online marine casualty reporting system for examination and official record.
In a separate incident, the Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel LUTUF, carrying six Indians among its 10 crew members, was hijacked by pirates off Somalia’s Puntland coast on August 17.
The vessel was reportedly boarded by eight pirates armed with AK-47-type weapons and operating from two skiffs.
The crew initially mustered inside the ship’s citadel, but the pirates managed to gain access and subsequently brought the crew members to the bridge.
The vessel remains under pirate control, the official said, adding that no injuries have been reported so far.
