Somali pirates are suspected of
hijacking a Sri Lankan-flagged fuel freighter after the ship
sent a distress call, turned off its tracking system and altered
course for the Somali coast, a piracy expert said on Tuesday.
If confirmed, Monday's incident would be the first hijack of
a commercial ship by Somali pirates since 2012.
The Aris 13 is believed to be carrying eight crew, said John
Steed of the aid group Oceans Beyond Piracy. Steed, a former
British colonel, has worked on piracy for nearly a decade and is
in close contact with naval forces tracking the ship.
"The ship reported it was being followed by two skiffs
yesterday afternoon. Then it disappeared," he told Reuters.
Aircraft from regional naval force EU Navfor were flying
overhead to track the ship's progress and try to determine what
was happening, he said.
The 1,800 deadweight tonne Aris 13 is owned by Panama
company Armi Shipping and managed by Aurora Ship Management in
the United Arab Emirates, according to the Equasis shipping data
website, managed by the French transport ministry.
The ship was being monitored by the United Kingdom Maritime
Trade Organisation (UKMTO), which coordinates the management of
all merchant ships and yachts in the Gulf of Aden area, said
Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy
reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The UKMTO in Dubai said it had no further information "at
the moment".
In their heyday five years ago, Somali pirates terrorised
sailors crossing the Gulf of Aden. They launched 237 attacks off
the coast of Somalia in 2011, the International Maritime Bureau
says, and held hundreds of hostages.
But attacks fell sharply after ship owners tightened
security and avoided the Somali coast.
Interventions by regional naval forces that flooded into the
area helped disrupt several hijack bids and secure the strategic
trade route that leads through the Suez Canal and links the
oilfields of the Middle East with European ports.