Two commercial vessels carrying a total of 22 Indian crew members have been hijacked by armed pirates in separate incidents off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, raising fresh concerns over maritime security in the region. According to Indian shipping officials, all Indian seafarers are currently safe. The first incident involved the Eritrea-flagged oil tanker MT Sibu 1, which was seized in the Gulf of Aden on August 20 by six armed pirates approximately 30 nautical miles off Yemen’s coast. The vessel had 20 crew members, including 16 Indians, along with nationals from Syria, Sudan, Iraq, and another unidentified country.

The second hijacking took place on August 17 when the Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel MV LUTUF was captured near Somalia’s Puntland coast. The ship, carrying 10 crew members, including six Indians, was reportedly boarded by eight pirates armed with AK-47 rifles. Although the crew initially took shelter inside the vessel’s secure citadel, the attackers managed to gain entry, took control of the bridge, and diverted the ship toward Somalia’s Nugaal coast. Officials confirmed that no injuries have been reported among the crew members despite both vessels remaining under pirate control.

The incidents come amid a sharp rise in piracy across the Gulf of Aden, the Somali coast, and the wider Indian Ocean, adding to existing security challenges caused by regional conflicts and tensions around the Strait of Hormuz. Indian authorities have directed the recruitment agency handling the crews to submit detailed incident reports while closely monitoring the situation. With India now the world’s second-largest supplier of merchant seafarers after the Philippines, the safety of Indian crew members operating in high-risk international waters has become an increasingly significant concern for the country’s maritime authorities.