Armed men boarded a Maltese-flagged cargo ship off Somalia early Thursday.
Maritime security sources said they opened fire on the ship and fired rocket-propelled grenades.
The Maltese-flagged Hellas Aphrodite ship was carrying gasoline and was en route from India to South Africa.
Operation Atalanta, the EU naval force countering piracy in the Horn of Africa, said one of its ships was near the site of the attack and was on its way to provide assistance.
The ship’s crew members took refuge in the citadel
Latsko Marine Management, the Greek company that manages the ship, first warned of a “security incident” on Thursday morning, but initially provided relatively few details.
The British UKMTO Maritime Trade Operations Center described the incident as “illegal boarding”.
It says, “The master of a ship has reported that a small vessel is approaching him on his stern.” “The small craft fired small arms and RPGs towards the ship. Unauthorized personnel of the small craft have boarded the ship.”
Marine risk management company Diapolus said the 24 crew members who had sought shelter in the ship’s secure “citadel” remained there and were safe.
“All 24 crew members are safe and we are in close contact with them,” the ship’s management company Latsko said in a statement.
Recent increase in attacks after several quiet years
Thursday’s incident is the first time in more than a year that pirates have taken control of a ship in the Horn of Africa region, but it is one of several attacks in recent days that have endangered sailors and shipping companies.
“This is an unprecedented series of incidents targeting merchant ships since the hijacking of the MV Basilisk in May 2024,” France’s Center for Maritime Information Cooperation and Awareness warned, referring to the last successful hijacking. “Pirates are agile, determined, move between areas and have real reach.”
Also, the Liberian-flagged MV Basilisk was hijacked last May, the Bangladesh-flagged ship MV Abdullah was hijacked in April, and India’s navy regained control of one ship in March 2024 and another in January.
Battling a series of internal conflicts with a weak government exercising only partial control, Somalia’s waters have long been known as piracy hotspots given their importance to global shipping.
Attacks by Somali pirates on ships peaked between 2010 and 2015, but have since declined dramatically amid increased patrols by US, EU and other allied naval forces.
Increasing attacks on global shipping by Houthi rebels in Yemen over the past two years amid the war in Gaza have diverted some international naval resources to other nearby waters.
Edited by: Zack Crellin