Two foreign-flagged commercial vessels carrying 22 Indian seafarers have been hijacked by armed pirates in separate incidents off Somalia and Yemen this week. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday asserted that all Indian nationals were safe.The incidents have renewed concerns over a resurgence of Somali piracy in the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said 16 Indian seafarers were aboard one vessel and six on the other. “From what we have gathered so far, these 22 Indian citizens — our seafarers — are safe. We are in touch with the relevant officials regarding this matter to ensure the safety and well-being of our people,” Jaiswal said.The Indian Embassy in Kenya said it had taken up the matter with the authorities concerned in Somalia and confirmed the presence of 16 Indians aboard the Eritrea-flagged MT Sibu 1 and six aboard the Cameroon-flagged MV Lutuf.According to reports, the latest incident involved Sibu 1, an oil-products tanker hijacked on Thursday in the Gulf of Aden, about 30 nautical miles off Yemen. Six armed men reportedly boarded the vessel and took control of it before it was diverted towards Somalia.The second vessel, Lutuf, a Cameroon-flagged general cargo ship, was hijacked on August 17, about four nautical miles off Mareeyo on Somalia’s Puntland coast. Eight armed men reportedly boarded the vessel and took control of it. Its 10-member crew included six Indians, besides Turkish, Georgian and Serbian nationals.Lutuf was reportedly carrying Turkish weapons, communications equipment and satellite equipment bound for a Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu, according to Somali officials.The back-to-back hijackings are significant because these come after months of mounting evidence that Somali piracy, which had receded sharply following a sustained international naval and maritime-security effort, is returning as a serious threat.The International Maritime Bureau said in July that 38 piracy and armed-robbery incidents had been recorded globally in the first half of 2026 — the lowest first-half figure since 1992. Yet it warned of a “slight resurgence” of Somali piracy, noting that 67 crew members had been taken hostage globally and that Somali pirates accounted for 94 per cent of those hostages.