Somali pirates abandoned a hijacked Emirati dhow loaded with lemons after failing to use it for further attacks at sea.
Security sources in Somalia’s Puntland state told AFP the fate of the Fahad-4 crew remains unknown after the April attack.
The Fahad-4 was stormed in late April by an eleven-strong pirate gang after departing Mogadishu with a citrus cargo onboard.
In early May, the Joint Maritime Information Centre raised its pirate threat level to severe amid rising hijacking incidents regionally.
The JMIC, run by a forty-seven-nation coalition deployed in the northern Indian Ocean, monitors piracy threats across the region continuously.
According to the JMIC the dhow was attacked about ten nautical miles off Dhinowda in northeastern Somalia waters coastline region.
Puntland officials said the pirate crew set out from an area near Garacad, six hundred kilometres north of Mogadishu city.
After taking control, pirates used the hijacked dhow as a mothership to launch attacks against passing commercial vessels at sea.
The pirates abandoned the vessel on May fourth after supplies ran low and maritime patrol alerts intensified across waters region.
Several other ships hijacked in recent weeks remain in pirate control across the region maritime monitors have reported separately confirmed.
Maritime monitors said pirates seized the Bajan-flagged Honour 25 tanker on April twenty-first off Puntland waters incident reported widely confirmed.
Days later on April twenty-sixth, the Syrian-flagged M/V Sward and Togo-flagged Eureka tanker were also seized at sea separately reported.
The Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean said it was almost certain Fahad-4 was linked to an aborted attack incident report.
In that incident, a dhow approached a Maltese tanker but turned back after armed security team appeared onboard quickly deployed.
Somali authorities have yet to respond to requests for comment on the Fahad-4 incident from international media outlets queries officials.