Security consultancy Vanguard Tech has reported that a Chinese fishing vessel was hijacked off the coast of Somalia on Thursday, January 1.
The vessel, identified as Liao Dong Yu 578, was off the coast of Puntland when it was boarded by pirates in the early afternoon (local time) of Thursday, according to Vanguard Tech.
EUNAVFOR Somalia, the EU naval counter-piracy force responsible for the Horn of Africa and the Western Indian Ocean, has not issued any statement confirming Vanguard's report of the hijacking.
A US Department of Homeland Security had earlier stated that the Chinese-operated fleet to which Liao Dong Yu 578 belongs has been engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing of yellowfin tuna in Somali waters.
The same vessel had also been the target of an earlier hijacking by Somali pirates off Puntland in late November 2024, as confirmed by EUNAVFOR officials.
German news channel DW had said that the 18 hijackers in the 2024 incident also included the fishing vessel's embarked security personnel, who were reportedly working in conjunction with a local armed group.
The Chinese fishermen were released in January 2025, reportedly in exchange for a US$2 million ransom payment.
