Video released of Egyptians held by pirates, as Somali officials prohibit ransom payment, move to cut off supplies to hijacked ship

Video footage of bound Egyptians pleading for their release sent to relatives on Monday underscores the perilous fate of the crewmembers on board an oil tanker seized by Somali pirates off the coast of the Horn of Africa country at the beginning of May. The footage, obtained by Mada Masr, was sent to personal phones of crewmembers’ families and shows three crewmen kneeling on the deck of the M/T Eureka, a diesel tanker owned by a UAE-based shipping company. Their hands are tied behind their backs, and they can be heard pleading with the tanker’s owner to save them while two captors fire shots into the air beside them. The plight of those on the seized vessel highlights the increasing potential for piracy along the Somali coast with shipping rerouted due to tension in the Strait of Hormuz, analysts tell Mada Masr. For pirates, the increased traffic is seen as a much needed source of income amid deteriorating economic conditions and drought in the country. Somali officials tell Mada Masr they are trying to discourage this by prohibiting any discussion of ransom with the M/T Eureka . In Egypt, crewmembers’ families have become desperate, looking to pressure the Egyptian government and the Egyptian owner of the Emirati company into action, so far to no avail. The tanker was boarded by armed men in the Gulf of Aden on May 2 and steered toward the Somali coast, where it has remained anchored. Approximately 12 to 18 crew members in total are being held by a group of between 25 and 35 armed men, according to a senior Puntland official. Puntland is a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Somalia that administers much of the coastline where piracy activity has concentrated. The family of Mohamed Rady, an Egyptian mechanical engineer employed by Royal Shipping Lines — the UAE-based company that owns the vessel — previously told Mada Masr he managed to call home twice since the seizure for no more than five minutes each time. In his second call on May 10, Rady told his wife, Amira Ahmed, that a large number of armed men had boarded the vessel and that the situation was “difficult.” He said the company was “refusing everything” in ransom negotiations. A former Somali security source briefed on the situation told Mada Masr that pirates holding crews across multiple hijacked vessels have been forcing hostages to call their governments to demand ransom payments. The same source said crews across three vessels currently held in Somali waters are enduring severe living conditions and deteriorating health. Puntland security forces have been systematically cutting off the pirates’ lifelines. The senior Puntland official confirmed to Mada Masr that authorities intercepted a resupply shipment of food, water and fuel intended for those holding the tanker, and that armed forces are now stationed on a nearby beach, interdicting attempts to reach the vessel by sea. A Puntland security source and the senior official said that food and water aboard the ship are either running low or were completely depleted. Five of the hijackers have since managed to escape the vessel, according to the same security source. Two were apprehended by security forces, and three others escaped and were still being pursued by authorities at the time of reporting. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a May 11 statement that it had instructed its embassy in Mogadishu to engage “the highest levels” in Somalia to monitor the situation. The UAE, which condemned the hijacking in a statement last week, expressed solidarity with Egypt and called for international cooperation to protect commercial shipping. Families of the hostages are pressing Egyptian authorities for intervention. A relative of one crew member told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that a delegation of families went to the Foreign Ministry headquarters on Saturday to follow up on efforts to secure the hostages’ release. According to the family member, the official they met said that the authorities were trying to “resolve the matter peacefully,” stressing that “the presidency and the whole country are following the issue closely. But we can not intervene because people’s lives are at stake.” After the Foreign Ministry statement was issued, the Egyptian ambassador to Somalia contacted several families and promised to do everything possible to secure the hostages’ release, two family members told Mada Masr at the time. Still, the relative who spoke anonymously to Mada Masr dismissed those efforts as little more than “reassuring messages.” “We haven’t seen anything tangible on the ground,” the relative said. The question of ransom remains unclear, according to authorities. Rady’s brother told Mada Masr the family had heard a figure of US$3.5 million. Other reports have cited sums significantly higher. The senior Puntland official told Mada Masr that reports of a specific ransom demand remain unverified. Puntland authorities have issued an order prohibiting any ransom payment to the pirates, the Puntland security source said. The intention, according to the source, is deterrence: refusing to financially reward the hijacking is meant to discourage others from attempting the same, amid a spate of such incidents. Desperate for action, some families have tried to apply pressure on the Egyptian owner of the Emirati-based shipping company. Al-Sayed al-Shazly, the head of the Egyptian Maritime Navigation Officers Syndicate, told Mada Masr that the syndicate’s lawyer is currently collecting powers of attorney from the families in preparation for legal actions against the Emirati company.  The lawsuit before Egyptian courts would seek the seizure of any of the company’s vessels should they pass through Egypt “or whichever country they are in,” on the grounds that the company is endangering Egyptian lives. The M/T Eureka is one of three vessels currently held in Somali waters, with crews drawn from Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan, according to the former Somali security source. The international maritime threat level for waters off the Somali coast has been raised to “severe” by the Joint Maritime Information Center, which advises vessels in the area to maintain heightened vigilance. The Indian Ocean High Risk Area designation, a label that had kept shipping companies and naval forces on alert, was removed in 2023 , just months before the hijackings resumed. Jethro Norman, a Somalia specialist and senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Mada Masr that the maritime security landscape in the Red Sea region has shifted significantly. He said disruptions and rerouting of naval and commercial traffic linked to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have pushed more vessels into alternative sea lanes, increasing exposure along Somalia’s coast and effectively creating “a more target rich environment” for hijackings. This broader reconfiguration of shipping routes is illustrated by recent incidents such as the seizure of the M/T Eureka, which had departed the UAE’s Port of Fujairah — currently one of the key exit points for Gulf maritime traffic — before being intercepted in waters where Somali piracy remains active. Norman added that the hijackings are also being driven by local factors, “particularly illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which puts a squeeze on local livelihoods.” He said droughts across Somalia, which have prompted famine risk warnings from humanitarian monitors in parts of the country, are also likely to be a contributing factor. Puntland’s security forces had also spent more than a year focused on a major UAE and US-backed offensive against IS-Somalia, a local affiliate of the Islamic State operating in the northern Cal Miskaad region. The senior Puntland official told Mada Masr that this campaign diverted resources away from coastal patrols. The post Video released of Egyptians held by pirates, as Somali officials prohibit ransom payment, move to cut off supplies to hijacked ship first appeared on Mada Masr .