Somali pirates hijack 8 dhows with 120 Indians

Eight dhows with at least 120 Indian sailors on board may have been hijacked by pirates off the Somalia coast recently.

The Indian navy and director-general of shipping said they were trying to confirm the reports.

A Nairobi-based diplomat confirmed that the pirates were holding several dhows, which they had seized between Friday and Sunday. The vessels are believed to have been moving goods between Somalia and the United Arab Emirates, the diplomat said.

He said some of the dhows had drifted away from the Somali coastline but their location was not clear.

A naval officer said even if the hijack was confirmed, “there is very little that we can do” as any naval operation will only endanger the sailors’ lives. “The sailors are at the mercy of the pirates, who may release them for a ransom or when they abandon the dhows,” he said.

The Indian sailors on the dhows are said to be from Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat, and were probably on their way to the UAE. The dhows ply between the western coast of India, the Gulf and east Africa.

According to the reports, Somali pirates may have hijacked the dhows off Kismayo in southern Somalia. The information emerged from the crew of a UAE-based dhow, which was hijacked by pirates and later released. The UAE dhow is now in Seychelles, where its sailors spoke about the hijacked dhows.

The officer said the dhows have been ignoring advice to keep off Somali ports, and to stick to international waters. Greedy for quick profits and easy passage, they often sail into Somali ports and get hijacked. The hijacked dhows are mostly used as mother ships by pirates for operations targeted at big merchant vessels.

—With inputs from agencies