Akram Mokhtar, father of Captain Mo'men Mokhtar, one of the Egyptian sailors abducted by pirates off Somalia, told Al Manassa on Monday that families of the captives had lost contact with both the hijackers and their relatives since Friday, when the vessel “lost internet access.”
The disclosure came a day after Egypt's minister of foreign affairs, international cooperation, and expatriates, Badr Abdelatty, called for continued efforts to expedite the sailors' release and ensure their safety. Abdelatty made the appeal on Sunday while receiving his Somali counterpart, Abdisalam Abdi Ali, in Cairo, urging him to keep Somali authorities engaged in the crisis, according to a statement posted on the foreign ministry's Facebook page.
Akram Mokhtar, whose son Capt. Mo’men is the second officer aboard the oil tanker hijacked off Somalia, accused the shipowner of stalling on paying the ransom it had agreed with the pirates a month and a half earlier.
On May 2, 2026, armed men hijacked an Emirati oil tanker off Yemen’s coast with 12 sailors aboard, including eight Egyptians and four Indians, and steered it toward the Somali coast.
In May, Yemen’s coast guard said it had dispatched three patrol boats from Aden and Shabwa to respond to the hijacking. The operation, however, faced serious challenges because of the boats’ limited capabilities.
It said the tanker was carrying about 2,800 metric tons of diesel and had been seized by nine Somali men armed with various weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades.
Vessel-tracking data showed the hijacked ship was an Emirati oil tanker that had sailed from Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates. It was seized in an armed robbery in the Arabian Sea near the coast of Yemen’s eastern Shabwa Governorate after calling at ports in Mukalla, Hadramout.
Maritime security bodies and regional authorities have warned of a growing piracy threat in the Horn of Africa following a series of ship hijackings and an expansion in the operations of Somali pirate groups, raising concerns over the security of vital international shipping routes.
Two hijackings have been reported off Somalia since April 21, involving the seizure of an oil tanker and a cargo ship by unauthorized personnel. British security firm Ambrey described the incidents as a “renewed wave of Somali piracy.”
On April 23, fishing vessels carrying armed men approached another cargo ship, but the suspected boats withdrew after an exchange of gunfire.
