22 Indian Sailors Safe After Pirates Hijack Two Ships Off Somalia, Yemen

The Indian Embassy in Kenya has contacted authorities in Somalia to confirm the safety of the crew, with 16 Indians aboard the Eritrea-flagged oil tanker MT Sibu 1 and six aboard the Cameroon-flagged general cargo ship MV Lutuf.

The Sibu 1 was seized on Thursday in the Gulf of Aden, about 30 nautical miles off Yemen, when six armed men boarded and diverted the vessel toward Somalia. The Lutuf was hijacked on August 17, roughly four nautical miles off Mareeyo on Somalia's Puntland coast, by eight armed men.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that all 22 Indian citizens are safe and that the government is coordinating with relevant officials to ensure their well-being. Both ships remain under pirate control.

The hijackings have raised fresh concerns about a resurgence of Somali piracy in the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, a key shipping route that had seen a decline in attacks in recent years.