Malta-flagged hijacked ship moves towards Somalian coast

The Maltese-flagged merchant ship that was hijacked last week in the Arabian Sea with 18 crew on board is now off the coast of Somalia, the European Union's maritime security force said Tuesday.

The Ruen remains under the hijackers’ control, but their identity and demands are not yet known.

The EU’s naval force said one crew members has been evacuated for medical care, but did not give details on his condition.

The Ruen, which is managed by Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, was off the Yemeni island of Socotra near the Horn of Africa when it was boarded, the private intelligence firm Ambrey and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said. Bulgarian authorities said the ship’s crew were Angolan, Bulgarian and Myanmar nationals.

Suspicion has fallen on Somali pirates, whose attacks have decreased markedly in recent years. They may be more active again. The Pentagon has said that five armed assailants who seized a commercial ship near Yemen late last month were likely Somali nationals and not Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who were first suspected to be responsible.

The Yemen-based Houthi rebels have escalated their attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea during the Israel-Hamas war, impacting global trade. The U.S. said Tuesday that it and a host of other nations are creating a force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea that have come under attack from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

But Somalia’s maritime police have also intensified their patrols in recent weeks following the Pentagon's assessment of last month's attempted hijacking as fears grow of a resurgence of piracy by Somali nationals.

A Spanish frigate from the EU Naval Force and a Japanese naval vessel that is under the multinational Combined Maritime Forces command have moved to the vicinity of the hijacked Ruen to join the Indian navy vessel. It is being “continuously monitored” by the ships and a 5-meter-long (16-foot) drone used by the EU force.