Overview
- Latsco Marine Management said the Hellas Aphrodite, carrying gasoline from Sikka to Durban, was illegally boarded after gunfire and RPGs, and all 24 crew remained safe inside the ship’s citadel.
- UKMTO reported the assault southeast of Eyl after a skiff fired on the tanker and boarded it, with tracking placing the vessel roughly 550–700 nautical miles off Somalia.
- EU Operation Atalanta said its assets were closing distance to respond, and UKMTO later warned of another attempted approach by a small craft in the same area.
- Maritime security firms reported the attackers are likely Somali pirates operating from the seized Iranian-flagged Issamohamadi used as a mothership, which Iran has not acknowledged.
- This boarding follows a cluster of incidents this week, including an exchange of fire involving guards on the Cayman Islands-flagged Stolt Sagaland and an earlier attack near Mogadishu, with multiple providers saying the Hellas Aphrodite had no armed team aboard.