Pirates Hijack Iranian Fishing Vessel Azini with 23 Crew Off Somalia

Armed pirates hijacked the Iranian fishing vessel Azini on October 29 off the northeastern coast of Somalia, with 23 people on board. The vessel was later seen moving eastward, approaching a busy commercial shipping lane, raising alarm among maritime security authorities, who fear it could be used as a mother ship to launch attacks against merchant vessels at sea.

According to an official from the Puntland Maritime Police Force, the attacking group consisted of 12 pirates, who boarded the vessel between Bandar Bayla and Hafun. On board were 21 Iranian crew members and two Somali security guards. The captain reportedly managed to send a distress voice message to another vessel before communications were lost, and the condition of the 23 people aboard the Azini remains unknown.

The Maritime Security Centre - Indian Ocean (MSCIO) located the vessel at coordinates 09°42′N 053°55′E at 0400 UTC on October 30, and later at 09°47′N 055°45′E as it approached the shipping traffic lane. The European Union's naval operation Atalanta opened an investigation, while UK Maritime Trade Operations issued alert 190-26 and the Joint Maritime Information Center linked the case to MSCIO alert 161/26, placing the incident in the Somali Basin, east-southeast of Socotra. The agency rated the piracy threat level in the area as moderate.

The hijacking comes amid a resurgence of pirate activity in the Somali region. According to the Associated Press, six merchant vessels were hijacked between April and August, and in September Puntland security forces recovered the tanker Honour 25 after a prolonged hijacking, during which five crew members reportedly died.

Security sources consulted noted that at least 11 vessels have been attacked or boarded so far this year, including a vessel carrying Turkish weapons and a shadow fleet tanker that was freed following an armed operation backed by its owner. Experts warned that the pirate resurgence coincides with attention focused on other fronts, such as attacks linked to the US-led war against Iran and tensions between Yemen's Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, and noted that the attack on the Azini appears more sophisticated than the piracy wave of 2005 to 2012, with indications of collaboration between extremist and criminal groups reportedly using Starlink systems to improve their communications and vessel tracking.