Ship hijacking ‘likely to be the first of a series’published at 12:22 GMT
12:22 GMT
Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist
We’ve been speaking to experts to find out more details about the reported hijacking of a tanker ship off the Somali coast.
Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List, says there are 24 crew are onboard the Hellas Aphrodite. Most are from the Philippines, five are Greek and one is from Montenegro. The ship had no armed guards on board.
The ship was reportedly attacked by people using a small boat, with a larger fishing vessel spotted a few miles away. It’s believed this larger craft is acting as a “mothership” for the smaller one.
Meade says the use of a mothership to launch smaller boats to carry out attacks demonstrates “strategic intent” because it allows pirates to operate further offshore.
“This is likely to be the first of a series of attacks,” he says. “If they get a successful ransom from this, then we will inevitably see more. It’s a funding operation at this point.”
It’s unclear who the attackers are, or their demands.
A report by the UN Security Council, external earlier this year reported that piracy operations in the region may have some links to al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia.
The UN says al-Shabab has a “developing” and “transactional” relationship with Houthis in Yemen. In exchange for weapons and training, al-Shabab have allegedly agreed to “increase piracy activity” in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast.