Nairobi: A vessel was hijacked while sailing eastward in the Gulf of Aden and diverted to Somali territorial waters, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said Saturday. According to Anadolu Agency, the UKMTO reported receiving an incident report on Friday concerning a situation occurring 65 nautical miles south of the Yemeni city of Al Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province. Unidentified individuals boarded the vessel as it was sailing eastward, which led the agency to classify the incident as a hijack after the ship was redirected towards Somali waters. Authorities are currently investigating the incident. Yemen's Coast Guard announced on Friday that it was monitoring the seizure of the Asana oil tanker, which took place more than 26 nautical miles off the coast of Hadramout. The Coast Guard attributed the act of piracy to a group of Somali pirates, although the ownership of the vessel remains undisclosed, and no organization has claimed responsibility for the hijacking. The hijacking of the vess el comes amid a series of maritime security challenges in the region. Egypt's Foreign Ministry confirmed on May 11 that an oil tanker with eight Egyptian sailors aboard had been hijacked near the Somali coast. This incident occurred just days after Yemeni authorities reported the hijacking of another vessel, which carried 12 Egyptian and Indian sailors. Piracy off the Somali coast, which was rampant from 2008 to 2018, had seen a decline but began to rise again in late 2023 due to heightened regional security tensions. Additionally, Yemen's Houthi group threatened on April 12 to escalate military operations if US-Israeli attacks on Iran resumed, further complicating the security landscape in the region.