Second tanker in three months hijacked off Yemen as Somali piracy resurges in Gulf of Aden

Pirates have hijacked a tanker in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) body and Somali security officials, marking the second such seizure in three months [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vg6dml34vo]. The UKMTO said a "vessel was boarded by unauthorised personnel" as it sailed east and advised other ships to "transit with caution" [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vg6dml34vo].

Three security officials in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region separately identified the hijacked craft as the MT Asana, a Tanzanian-flagged tanker en route to the port of Bosaso that was boarded about 65 nautical miles off Yemen by seven gunmen who set off from near the Puntland port town of Garacad [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vg6dml34vo].

The seizure is the latest in a "rapidly growing wave of piracy sweeping the Gulf of Aden," according to Al Jazeera, which reported the Asana's capture as part of a broader resurgence of hijackings in the waterway [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/17/suspected-somali-pirates-seize-tanker-near-yemen-amid-wave-of-hijackings].

Until about three years ago such incidents had almost vanished from the area following a concerted multinational naval security operation, BBC reporting notes, but experts say piracy now appears to be making a comeback [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vg6dml34vo]. While the Indian Ocean is heavily patrolled by the European Union Naval Force that oversees anti-piracy operations off Somalia, the Gulf of Aden is more lightly protected — a gap Puntland officials cited as a likely reason pirates have shifted their area of operations [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vg6dml34vo].

The Gulf of Aden feeds the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical global shipping chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea, meaning renewed pirate activity there carries implications well beyond the Horn of Africa for international trade and maritime security [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vg6dml34vo].

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