Pirates hijacked the Cameroon-flagged cargo ship M/V Lutuf earlier this week roughly three and a half nautical miles off Marraya, in Puntland’s Eyl district, according to regional maritime officials. The armed group took control of the vessel and its ten-member crew, then steered it toward the Nugaal coast, a stretch of shoreline that has historically served as a staging area for pirate groups holding hijacked ships.
The seizure is the latest in a wave of hijackings this year, with local port officials saying at least six vessels and more than 100 crew members are currently being held by Somali pirates, including three tankers carrying fertilizer and fuel taken earlier in the year. Separately, eight armed men boarded another cargo vessel off Mareeyo on the Somali coast in mid-August, underscoring what maritime security analysts describe as the most significant resurgence in Somali piracy since the peak years of the early 2010s, driven in part by reduced international naval patrols in the region.
Source: The Eastleigh Voice — https://eastleighvoice.co.ke/regional/390866/somalia-pirates-seize-commercial-cargo-ship
