A Bulgarian-owned handysize vessel boarded and hijacked by unknown assailants in the Arabian Sea three days ago was sailing towards the Somali coast late on Sunday.

This adds credence to speculation that the incident could be related to a resurgence of Somali piracy rather than to Houthi rebel activity in nearby Yemen.

Bulgarian prime minister Nikolay Denkov has already qualified the hijacking of the vessel as “a case of piracy”.