Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in the New Capital.
The ministry stated that the oil tanker M/T Eureka - which runs under the flag of Togo - was reportedly seized after departing Yemen’s regional waters and being taken toward Somali territorial waters near Puntland.
Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty instructed the Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu to monitor developments concerning the eight Egyptian sailors aboard the vessel and to provide them with necessary support and assistance.
The ministry added that Egyptian authorities are maintaining high-level communication with Somali authorities to ensure the safety and security of the Egyptian crew members and to work toward their swift release.
Meanwhile, the families of the Egyptian sailors issued urgent appeals for international and diplomatic intervention to save the crew before “it is too late.”
According to statements by the family of abducted engineer Mohamed Radi Abdel Moneim to local Egyptian media outlets, the vessel run by a Sharjah-based company had departed from the Emirati port of Fujairah en route to a Yemeni port before being intercepted on 2 May by Somali pirates, who allegedly forced it toward the Somali coast at gunpoint.
According to online vessel Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, the tanker’s tracking signal reappeared after the seizure and located the vessel off the coast near Bayla (Bandar Beyla) after passing by Bosaso in Somalia’s Puntland region as of ten days ago.
AIS is a mandatory vessel tracking system that ships broadcast continuously—transmitting their identity, position, speed, and heading—so other ships and coast guards can see them in real time.
Ahmed Radi, brother of a kidnapped engineer on the board of the vessel, told Egyptian media on Monday that the hijackers contacted the shipping company and demanded a ransom of $3.5 million in exchange for the crew’s release, threatening to kill the sailors if their demands were not met.
He added that his brother was able to contact the family on 6 May, but that his last message, received on Saturday, indicated that negotiations had stalled and that the company had stopped communicating with the pirates, placing the crew in grave danger.
Mohamed Radi’s sister also accused the vessel’s owning company of failing to take serious or effective action to resolve the crisis, holding it responsible for the sailors’ safety and condemning what she described as the “abandonment of the crew” to an uncertain fate.
The families have urged Egyptian authorities and relevant international bodies to coordinate with naval forces operating in the region to pressure the ship’s owner or negotiate with the hijackers to secure the sailors’ safe return.
The abducted Egyptian crew members were identified, according to their families' testimonies on social media, as third engineer Mohamed Radi Abdel Moneim Al-Mahasab, officer Moamen Akram Mokhtar Amin, chief engineer Mahmoud Galal Abdullah Al-Mekawy, sailor Sameh Abdel Azim El-Desouky El-Sayed, mechanic Aslam Adel Abdel Monsef Selim, electrical engineer Mohamed Ahmed Abdullah, welder Ahmed Mahmoud Saad Ismail Darwish, and cook Adham Salem Shaaban Gaber.
There are also several Indian sailors on the vessel.
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