Somali Pirates Hijack Fuel Tanker Honour 25 with 17 Multinational Crew Off Puntland Coast; EU NAVFOR and CTF-151 Deploy in Response

Somali pirates seized the Palau-flagged product tanker Honour 25 (3,000 DWT) on April 25, 2026, approximately 30 nautical miles offshore between the Puntland coastal towns of Hafun (Xaafuun) and Bandarbeyla. The vessel was carrying 18,500 barrels of fuel oil and a 17-member multinational crew — 10 Pakistanis, 4 Indonesians, 1 Indian, 1 Sri Lankan, and 1 from Myanmar — when at least 6 armed pirates from the Bandarbeyla district boarded the tanker. The vessel had departed Berbera port in Somaliland and was bound for Mogadishu when intercepted. After the seizure, the pirates maneuvered the Honour 25 south within Somali territorial waters and anchored it off the Puntland coast; no ransom demands had been issued in initial reporting. The Puntland Maritime Police Force, Somali Navy, and the US-led Combined Task Force 151 responded, while EU NAVFOR Operation Atalanta and Spain's Joint Operations Command monitored the situation. The incident follows a possible armed boarding investigated by EU NAVFOR approximately 24 nautical miles southeast of Xaafuun on April 22, confirming a sharpened piracy surge along Somalia's northeastern coast since October 2025. Somalia's resurgent maritime piracy — largely dormant from 2012 to 2023 — now threatens the vital Berbera-to-Mogadishu coastal fuel supply route and the broader Red Sea-Indian Ocean shipping corridor at a moment when Somalia's coast guard capacity remains severely limited.