Again? Five armed pirates! 460 nautical miles off Somalia

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According to the UK Maritime Trade Office (UKMTO), a merchant ship was boarded by armed men on the afternoon of January 4 in the Indian Ocean, about 460 nautical miles east of Somalia.

The UKMTO report said it had received a report that five to six unauthorised armed men had boarded the ship, and the captain reported that the crew had gathered in the CITADEL (refuge), a type of safe room on the ship that normally uses the steering gear room as a safe room.

According to further information from MARITRACE, the hijacked ship, named LILA NORFOLK, a bulk carrier flying the Liberian flag, 289 meters long and 45 meters wide, was boarded by pirates around sunset on January 4, local time, at about 8 degrees north latitude and 57 degrees 30 minutes east longitude. Further details, as well as the pirates' demands and motives, were not immediately clear.

At least five dhows have been hijacked by suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia since late November, with the most recent boarding taking place in mid-December when a bulk carrier was hijacked in the same waters.

On December 14, the Maltese flagged bulk carrier MV Ruen was hijacked in the Indian Ocean about 680 nautical miles east of Bosaso, Somalia. The ship was closely monitored by authorities as it sailed back to Somali waters, where it remains detained between Somalia's Eyre and Shafen peninsulas. During that attack, the crew also gathered in the safe room, but had to leave in the end. One crew member of the MV Ruen had previously been sent back to land for medical care, while the health of the rest of the crew remained a concern.

The exact demands and motives of the pirates involved in the MV Ruen incident remain unclear. However, the recent spate of incidents is reminiscent of tactics used by Somali pirates more than a decade ago, when they used dhows as mother ships to launch attacks on ships far from shore. If confirmed, the hijacking of MV Ruen would be the first successful hijacking of a commercial vessel by Somali pirates since 2017.

It is also worth noting that the incident took place 460 nautical miles east of Somalia, while the previous MV Ruen was in the Indian Ocean about 680 nautical miles east of Somalia. Most countries have 12 nautical miles of territorial waters, 200 nautical miles of exclusive economic zones, 460 nautical miles of open sea waters, and the average bulk carrier sails about 300 nautical miles a day, and both incidents occurred at least 1.5 days to reach the land. Even if it's not monsoon season in the Indian Ocean, this radius of attack is worrying!