| Reported: 23 April 2026 | Position: Not Confirmed |
| Location: 83nm southeast of Eyl, Somalia | |
Incident Details. UKMTO has issued Warning 044-26 regarding a suspicious approach on a vessel off the coast of Somalia. The Master of a cargo ship was approached by 2 small craft with armed persons onboard. One small craft approached to within 600m, warning shots were fired, and the suspicious craft returned fire. The suspicious small craft moved away and cleared the reporting cargo ship. All crew are safe and accounted for. UKMTO advises vessels to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.
Fig1. Location of Recent Incidents – Puntland, Somalia
Comment. This is the third incident in the last three days (See Fig 1) involving boardings and approaches to vessels operating off the north Puntland coast by groups of armed persons from small craft. On 20 April, it was reported that a Somali-flagged fishing vessel was hijacked by armed men off the town of Hufan, and on 21 April, the tanker HONOUR was boarded by six armed intruders 10nm south of Hafun; the crew retreated to the citadel. No further information was provided.
Assessment. It is likely that today’s incident is linked to the previous days’ events and that a Pirate Action Group is active in the area. Ships operating in the area are advised to proceed with caution, to comply with the guidance in BMP-Maritime Security bmp-ms_hi-res_s.pdf and to consider using an Armed Security Team to best mitigate the threat from pirate activity.
