Pirates seize an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen and head towards Somalia

Six armed men took control of a US-sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Yemen on Thursday and are heading towards Somalia, a country experiencing a resurgence of piracy, maritime security agencies said.

According to the British security company Vanguard, this is the SEAMULL oil tanker, also known as SIBU 1, which was hijacked 136 nautical miles (about 250 km) off the coast of Al-Mukalla, a city in southern Yemen.

"Six armed pirates have taken control of the ship and are heading towards Somalia," said the British maritime agency UKMTO, as well as the Maritime Security Centre for the Indian Ocean (MSCIO), linked to the European naval force Atalanta.

The United States imposed sanctions in December on the 'Seamull' oil tanker, one of the ships in Iran's "ghost fleet" accused of exporting Iranian oil using deceptive shipping practices.

This is one of four ships operated by the UAE-based Qatrat Alnada Almasi Ship Management, which have repeatedly transported Iranian petroleum products — including naphtha and diesel — and made stops at Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen.

After peaking in 2011, acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia had significantly decreased thanks in particular to the deployment of international military vessels, the creation of an EU-trained maritime police force in Puntland and various measures taken by shipowners (routes away from the coast, increased speed, anti-collision fittings and armed guards on board...).

But the activity, which arose in the 2000s from the poverty and anger of local fishing communities, deprived of fish by foreign trawlers operating illegally off the coast of Somalia, which was then without a central authority, has resumed since mid-April off the coast of Puntland (northeast coast), a hotspot of Somali piracy.

At least five ships are still in the hands of Somali pirates, the latest one hijacked last Monday off the coast of Puntland.