A Bulgarian-owned handysize vessel boarded and hijacked by unknown assailants in the Arabian Sea three days ago was sailing towards the Somali coast late on Sunday.
This adds credence to speculation that the incident could be related to a resurgence of Somali piracy rather than to Houthi rebel activity in nearby Yemen.
Bulgarian prime minister Nikolay Denkov has already qualified the hijacking of the vessel as “a case of piracy”. “According to him [Denkov], negotiations for a ransom are expected,” the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) said late on Sunday, citing Denkov.
Vessel trackers were showing the 41,600-dwt Ruen (built 2016) heading towards the coast 14 kilometres north-west of the Somali town of Bandar Murcaayo at 21:06 GMT, near the eastern tip of Somalia.
A Spanish navy vessel following the Ruen from a safe distance confirmed the bulker’s location.
“The alleged hijacked M/V Ruen is sailing along the north coast of Puntland, Somalia,” the EU naval force EU NAVFOR wrote on X.
“The EU NAVFOR flagship ESPS Victoria is currently monitoring the incident and coordinating with local authorities on further action,” the statement said.
According to EU NAVFOR, the situation on board the Malta-flagged vessel “is unknown”.
If the Somali piracy scenario is confirmed, it would be the first such incident in several years, adding uncertainty to shipping in a region already rocked by multiple attacks by Houthi rebels.
The Houthis have made no comments on the Ruen incident yet — unlike many other attacks against vessels for which they assumed responsibility in the past few weeks in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
Confirmed Houthi attacks include last month’s hijacking of Ray Car Carriers’ 5,100-ceu Galaxy Leader (built 2002).
Unclear circumstances
The Ruen was boarded by unknown assailants in open sea about 400 miles east of Yemen’s Socotra island and around 700 miles east of Somalia.
According to Ambrey Analytics, six individuals boarded the vessel. After a brief period in which the Ruen was drifting, it took course towards Somalia at a speed between 10 and 12 knots.
Navibulgar said on Friday that, based on the information it had gathered at the time, the vessel was “under the control of its captors”.
The Bulgarian owner added there was no reason to believe there was any “immediate threat to the crew”.
Ambrey reported on Friday that all of the ship’s 18 seafarers were safe in the citadel.
The crew is comprised of nine seafarers from Myanmar, eight Bulgarians and one Angolan citizen.
The Bulgarian government considers the ship as “hijacked”. The Indian Navy has also said it is closely monitoring the situation.
Some other events have been pointing towards resurgent Somali pirates as well.
On 15 December and separately from the Ruen incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) warned of a Somali pirate group being active just off the country’s coast near the Horn of Africa.
The US military attributed the attack and brief boarding on 26 November of Zodiac Maritime’s 20,000-dwt tanker Central Park (built 2015) to piracy, most probably by Somali nationals.
However, the US military’s interpretation had been met with scepticism by maritime intelligence sources.
EU NAVFOR said on Sunday that the Victoria has carried out “several verification visits and boardings” in the area it is patrolling.
