Recently, a tanker flying the Maltese flag was attacked by pirates over 700 nautical miles away from Mogadishu, Somalia. This incident adds to a series of piracy events in the region within the last week.
The vessel, Hellas Aprodite, was boarded after a small boat approached it and opened fire with small arms and RPGs. All 24 crew members managed to secure themselves in the ship's citadel.
The UKMTO Operations Centre, based in the UK, described this as an “illegal boarding.” It happened about 560 nautical miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia. They reported that the ship's captain informed them of the attack from a small craft that had fired at the tanker. The coordinates of the boarding were reported as 0205N 05710E.
EUNAVFOR Operation Atalanta stated that they have a vessel nearby and are moving closer to respond appropriately to the situation. The closest naval ship, a Spanish frigate part of Operation Atalanta, is approximately 30 hours away from the incident.
According to Martin Kelly, Head of Advisory at EOS Risk Group, this situation qualifies as a “hijacking” occurring 710 nautical miles off the coast of Mogadishu. He mentioned that the pirate group has been operating for around eight days and had made two previous attempts to attack the Stolt Aphrodite on November 3 and the fishing vessel Intertuna Tres on November 2.
Just a few days prior, on November 3, the chemical tanker MV Stolt Sagaland successfully thwarted a pirate attack around 330 nautical miles east of Mogadishu. Armed security personnel fired warning shots at four suspects trying to board from a small boat. During that incident, a mothership was located about five nautical miles from the tanker.
EUNAVFOR ATALANTA assessed that it is "HIGHLY LIKELY" that a hijacked dhow reported on October 28, 2025, was used as the mother vessel for the attack on the Stolt Sagaland. This dhow, named ISSAMOHAMADI, was reportedly not sending out AIS signals.
Maritime authorities have recommended that vessels stay at least 100 nautical miles away from the attack site, where pirate activity is believed to be ongoing. They stressed that timely and thorough reports of incidents and suspicious activities are vital for a quick response to emergencies.
These recent incidents are part of a larger rise in piracy that began in November 2023, coinciding with attacks by Houthi forces in the Red Sea area. Experts in maritime security have noted that pirates often use hijacked dhows as “mother ships” to carry out attacks hundreds of miles off the coast in the Indian Ocean.
In 2024, Operation ATALANTA recorded numerous incidents in the Somali Basin and Gulf of Aden, including four merchant vessel boardings and two significant hijackings: the MV Ruen, seized in mid-December 2023 and held for three months until the Indian Navy rescued it, and the MV Abdullah, hijacked in March 2024 and released a month later, reportedly after a large ransom was paid. In January 2025, a Chinese fishing vessel was also hijacked off the northeastern coast of Puntland, Somalia.
The last successful rescue operation in the area took place in May 2024, when Operation ATALANTA freed the Liberian-flagged MV Basilisk from suspected pirates. The vessel, carrying 17 crew members, was attacked while passing through the Indian Ocean, approximately 380 nautical miles east of Mogadishu. ATALANTA forces quickly secured the ship, though no pirates were captured during the operation.
Authorities are still looking into the current incident and have urged vessels to navigate the area carefully and report any suspicious behavior to UKMTO.