A bulk ship operated by a Bulgarian business and flying the Malta flag was reportedly boarded on Thursday in the eastern Indian Ocean near Socotra Island in Yemen, according to a statement from the British maritime security company Ambrey.
The incident occurred after a similar occurrence with the same vessel occurred earlier in the Arabian Sea. Ambrey discovered that a nearby fishing vessel flying the Iranian flag had shut off its AIS transponder six hours before the boarding. This vessel had previously been spotted off the coast of Somalia.
The information was disclosed in Ambrey’s advisory note: “The fishing vessel flying the flag of Iran had previously been operating offshore Somalia.”
An advice from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency, located east of Bossaso, Somalia, also reported a distress call from a vessel being boarded by unidentified people. According to the UKMTO map, the incident occurred near the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Yemen’s Socotra Island.
Previous Ambrey and UKMTO advisory notes stated that investigations into claims of a vessel incident in Yemeni waters were ongoing.