22 Indians on board 2 ships hijacked near Yemen and Somalia

According to the United Kingdom ‌Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre, a tanker was boarded Thursday by six armed persons who took control of the vessel and were redirecting it towards Somalia. Sources indicated that this UKMTO hijack warning was about Sibu 1.

According to another hijack warning issued by the UKMTO, a cargo vessel reported being boarded by eight “armed unauthorised persons” off the Somali coast, who then took control of the vessel. This report was about Lutuf, it is learnt. As of Friday, both the ships were not transmitting their location, which means that the pirates likely switched off their transponders.

Apart from increased risk to maritime security in the broader West Asia-North Africa region due to the conflict in the Gulf, piracy-related security incidents have also seen an uptick. Incidents involving Somali pirates had seen a significant fall over the past decade, but hijacking is on the rise this year.

Some shipping analysts are of the opinion that piracy-related incidents and hijackings have risen near East and North African trade corridors, specifically the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and off Somalia, because international naval forces shifted their focus and assets to West Asia and the Strait of Hormuz.

Indian seafarers are a dominant group in the global seafarer community. India is the world’s second-largest supplier of seafarers, contributing 311,936 maritime professionals to the global shipping industry, according to the BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report 2026.

The report estimates that India now accounts for 12.2% of the global seafaring workforce, ranking behind only the Philippines and ahead of China, Russia, and Indonesia. Given their widespread presence, the growing number of maritime security incidents have left Indian seafarers particularly vulnerable.

A number of Indian seafarers have already borne the brunt of the West Asia conflict, with a few of them even losing their lives. Several merchant vessels that have come under attack in the region since early March had a number of Indian seafarers on board. In some cases, they had to be rescued by regional militaries after attacks disabled the ships they were serving on.