A chemical tanker with Nigerian-bound trade links narrowly escaped a pirate assault in the Indian Ocean after armed guards onboard fought off attackers in a dramatic early-morning exchange.
The Cayman Islands-flagged MV Stolt Sagaland was sailing around 330 nautical miles east of Mogadishu on Monday, when four armed individuals in a small craft attempted to board the vessel.
A larger mothership, believed to be supporting the assailants, was spotted roughly five nautical miles away during the attack.
According to a joint bulletin from the Combined Maritime Forces and EUNAVFOR Operation ATALANTA, the attackers opened fire with AK-47 rifles, prompting the onboard security team to return fire.
Their swift response forced the pirates to abandon their boarding attempt and retreat towards the waiting mothership, described as having a grey and white hull.
Shipping company Stolt-Nielsen, which operates the vessel, confirmed the incident, assuring that all crew members were unharmed.
“Our crew are all safe, having responded swiftly and professionally to the incident,” the company stated.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) later verified that the vessel was continuing safely to its next port of call.
EUNAVFOR ATALANTA has classified the incident as an act of piracy and believes it is “highly likely” that the mothership involved was the Iranian-hijacked dhow ISSAMOHAMADI, seized on 28 October and now operating without an AIS signal.
Maritime authorities have since urged vessels to steer clear of a 100-nautical-mile radius around the attack site, where a pirate action group is thought to be active.
The attempted boarding marks the latest in a troubling resurgence of Somali piracy, which re-emerged in late 2023 following years of relative calm.
Hijacked dhows are often repurposed as mother ships, enabling pirates to strike hundreds of miles from shore across the Indian Ocean.
Throughout 2024, Operation ATALANTA recorded dozens of incidents in the Somali Basin and Gulf of Aden, including several merchant vessel boardings and two hijackings. Earlier this year, a Chinese fishing vessel was taken off Puntland’s northeastern coast.
Authorities continue to investigate Monday’s attack and have reiterated calls for merchant vessels to maintain heightened vigilance, report suspicious activity promptly, and transit the region with caution.
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