According to a senior Shipping Ministry official, all Indian crew members aboard both vessels are safe, based on the latest information available.

The first incident involved the Eritrea-flagged oil products tanker M.T. Sibhu-1, which was hijacked on August 20 in the Gulf of Aden, around 30 nautical miles off the Yemeni coast. The vessel has 20 crew members, including 16 Indians. The remaining crew comprises one Syrian, one Sudanese and one Iraqi national, while the nationality of another seafarer is yet to be confirmed.   The Shipping Ministry official said that, according to the vessel’s Recruitment and Placement Service Licence (RPSL) agency, S K S Krishi Marine Services (OPC) Private Limited, six armed pirates are currently on board the tanker and have taken control of the vessel.The agency has been directed to submit an incident report and subsequent periodic updates through the e-Navik online marine casualty reporting system.

Maritime tracking data indicates that the tanker was approached by an unauthorised vessel before control of the ship was lost. The incident comes amid renewed piracy activity in the waters off Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.

The second incident involved the Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF, which was hijacked on August 17 off the Puntland coast of Somalia. The vessel has 10 crew members, including six Indians, along with one Turkish national, one Georgian national and two Serbian security guards.     According to maritime security reports, the vessel was boarded by eight armed pirates carrying AK-47-type weapons and operating from two skiffs. The crew initially sought refuge in the vessel’s citadel, but the pirates subsequently gained access and brought the crew to the bridge.

The vessel is currently under pirate control, although no injuries have been reported.

The ship was seized approximately 3.5 nautical miles off Marraya in Puntland’s Eyl district and was subsequently taken towards Somalia’s Nugaal coast, according to a Somali official cited by The Associated Press.

The M/V LUTUF was reportedly carrying Turkish weapons, communications and satellite equipment destined for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu. The hijackers are suspected of having links to a previous hijacking incident.

The latest incidents have heightened concerns over the security of Indian seafarers operating in some of the world’s most strategically important shipping lanes.   The Forward Seamen’s Union of India (FSUI) also raised concerns on X over the dangers faced by Indian seafarers amid escalating regional tensions. The union shared footage it described as showing the hijacking of a vessel carrying Indian crew members in the Strait of Hormuz on April 22. It remained unclear whether the footage related to a separate incident or one of the latest hijackings. The incidents off Yemen and Somalia add to the security challenges already facing commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and wider Indian Ocean region, where vessels continue to face piracy risks as well as attacks and disruptions linked to the conflict in Yemen.      Indian seafarers are also facing heightened security concerns around the Strait of Hormuz, amid continuing tensions involving Iran, Israel and the United States.

The developments are particularly significant for India, which has emerged as the world’s second-largest supplier of seafarers after the Philippines.

The 2026 BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report estimates that India supplies approximately 311,936 seafarers, highlighting the country’s significant exposure to security risks affecting merchant crews across major international shipping routes.   The two hijackings underline the continuing vulnerability of commercial shipping and seafarers in the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean and are likely to reinforce calls for stronger maritime surveillance, coordinated naval security and enhanced protection measures for merchant vessels operating in high-risk waters.