Maritime security groups Monday said pirates have struck again, hijacking a cargo vessel off Somalia’s coast and sailed it toward the shoreline.
This is the second hijacking of a ship off Somalia in less than a week.
Last Wednesday, an oil tanker with 17 crew members called Honour 25 was hijacked while sailing near the Somali coast.
According to security officials from Somalia’s Puntland, the ship was overrun by six gunmen when it was approximately 30 nautical miles offshore.
The latest hijacking was of the Sward, which was carrying cement from Suez, Egypt, to the Kenyan port city of Mombasa and was flying the flag of St Kitts and Nevis.
British maritime security firms Vanguard and Ambrey said a vessel, identified as Sward, was believed to be under pirate control off Somali coast after being boarded near Godobjiran in central Somalia.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the incident took place about 6 nautical miles northeast of Garacad and classified it as a hijacking.
Vanguard said the ship’s 15-member crew included two Indian nationals and 13 Syrians.
“The vessel is currently assessed to be under pirate control and proceeding toward the Somali coastline. The Puntland Maritime Police Force has been notified,” Vanguard said in a security note issued late on Sunday.
Ambrey said the vessel had been traveling from Suez, Egypt, to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was boarded.
According to the company, all crew members were on the bridge except for two mechanics at the time of the incident.
Officials in Puntland, the semi-autonomous Somali region where the vessel was headed, did not immediately comment.
Piracy off Somalia’s long coastline caused major disruptions to global shipping routes between 2008 and 2018, with armed groups targeting commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Although attacks had declined sharply in recent years due to international naval patrols and improved onboard security, pirate activity began rising again in late 2023.
In November 2025, armed assailants attacked a commercial tanker off the coast of Mogadishu, marking the first such reported incident since 2024.
Somali pirates caused havoc in the waters off the Horn of Africa nation’s long coastline from 2008 to 2018. International naval patrols and improved maritime security greatly reduced their attacks.
MG/as/APA