DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Pirates have seized a small boat and kidnapped its 11 Indian crew members off the coast of Somalia, an investigator said Monday, the latest vessel targeted by the region’s resurgent hijackers.
The attack on the small ship happened Saturday as the vessel passed through the narrow channel between Yemen’s Socotra Island and the Somali coast, said Graeme Gibbon Brooks, CEO of Dryad Maritime, a shipping security firm. The pirates are taking the vessel to the Eyl area of northern Somalia, he said.
There was conflicting information over the boat’s name and where it was heading.
Brooks said the small dhow, a traditional wooden sailing ship common in regional waters, initially was heading from Dubai to Bosaso, Somalia. Malini Shankar of the Indian Directorate General of Shipping told the Press Trust of India news agency that the vessel was instead heading to Yemen, where a Saudi-led war against Shiite rebels holding its capital has raged for years.
Other Indian media reported the boat was heading to Mukalla, a southern port city once occupied by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula that has since been captured by Saudi-led forces. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it was trying to gather information about the hijacking.