A cargo ship that was on its way to Mombasa has been hijacked by suspected pirates in the Indian Ocean.
The vessel, identified as Sward, was attacked on Monday near the Somali coast as it headed to the Port of Mombasa.
Reports show the ship was coming from Suez, Egypt, when armed men boarded it not far from Somalia.
Maritime monitors said the incident happened near an area called Godobjiran, a few days’ journey from Mombasa.
According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), the ship is now being controlled by the pirates.
According to security operatives, the pirates seem to be directing the vessel towards the coast of Somalia, where such vessels are held until they pay some kind of ransom.
It was reported that there were 15 crew members in the ship at the time of the attack, with two from India and 13 others from Syria.
While most of them were in the ship’s control area during the attack, a few others were in other areas of the ship.
This latest development has raised new concerns regarding piracy activities in the region because for quite sometime now, there has been an appreciable decrease in such attacks because of joint military patrol missions carried out by the KDF and other allied forces in the region.
The hijacking occurs amidst growing tensions in regional waters.
