Two tankers with 22 Indians on board hijacked by pirates off Yemen, Somalia

BREAKING: Two tankers carrying 22 Indian crew hijacked by pirates off the coast of Yemen and Somalia.

Twenty two Indian crew members are in pirate hands right now. Two tankers, hijacked off the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, in the same stretch of water that terrorised global shipping a decade ago.

Details are still thin, but the basics are grim enough. Both vessels were taken at sea, and these are the pictures we have of tankers anchored off the Horn of Africa, the exact corridor where these attacks happen.

This is the route that pushed navies from a dozen countries into escort duty years ago, and India has history here. The Indian Navy has pulled crews out of pirate situations in these waters before, most recently during the Red Sea crisis, so expect New Delhi to move fast and say little while it does.

For now, the only fact that matters is this one. Twenty two people went to work on a ship, and tonight their families are waiting by the phone.

This is Kateryna Kovalenko, reporting for HIT.