The European Union anti-piracy naval forces announced on Thursday (December 5) that a Chinese fishing vessel has been seized by pirates in the waters off the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia.
According to reports from Reuters, the EU anti-piracy task force stated that the vessel carrying up to 18 crew members has been hijacked by pirates, some of whom were armed with AK-47s and machine guns. The task force categorized this incident as a maritime robbery.
The anti-piracy task force added that no crew members were injured in the incident.
From 2008 to 2018, Somali pirates wreaked havoc in the waters near the long coastline of the Horn of Africa countries. They remained dormant until the end of last year when pirate activities began to resurface.