Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Somalia, Somali officials and piracy experts said Tuesday, in the first hijacking of a large commercial vessel there since 2012.
(FOX)- The area where the hijacking occurred is overseen by the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.
It was not immediately clear what the pirates’ intentions are, but it may become one of the Trump administration’s first international tests.
The Aris 13 on Monday reported being approached by two skiffs, John Steed with the organization Oceans Beyond Piracy said. The ship had been carrying fuel from Djibouti to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, Steed said.
An official in the semiautonomous state of Puntland said over two dozen men boarded the ship off Somalia’s northern coast. Another Puntland official said the ship was being moved toward the coast. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
A Britain-based spokeswoman for the European Union Naval Force operation off Somalia, Flt. Lt. Louise Tagg, confirmed that an incident involving an oil tanker had occurred and an investigation was underway.
An official said no ransom demand had been made.