Merchant ships in the western Indian Ocean have been told to stay on alert after armed men seized an Iranian fishing vessel off Somalia and steered it towards a busy shipping route.
What happened
- Vessel: the fishing boat Azini, with 21 Iranian crew and two Somali security guards on board.
- When and where: hijacked on Thursday, 29 October, off northeastern Somalia, between Bandar Bayla and Hafun.
- Attackers: 12 pirates boarded the vessel, according to an officer of the Puntland Maritime Police Force. The captain managed one distress voice call to another vessel before contact was lost.
The Maritime Security Centre – Indian Ocean (MSCIO) later tracked the boat moving east, last reported near 09°47’N, 055°45’E and approaching a commercial route. The EU’s Operation Atalanta is investigating.
The mothership risk
The main fear is that pirates could use the fishing boat as a mothership, a base from which smaller attack boats are launched against merchant ships hundreds of miles from the coast. There is no confirmation yet that the Azini has been used this way, and the condition of those on board is unknown.
The incident adds to a worrying revival of Somali piracy. Six commercial vessels were hijacked between April and August, according to the Associated Press. In September, Puntland forces recovered the tanker Honour 25 after a long hijacking in which five crew members were reportedly killed.
MSCIO has urged ships in the area to keep a sharp lookout, follow best management practices and report anything suspicious immediately. The warning matters for Bangladeshi seafarers and ships trading via the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.
Based on reporting by Splash247, 2 November 2026.
Photo: Representative image: a US Navy ship and a suspected pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden (2009). US Navy / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
