In the early hours of 2 August, the MV Suez reported being under small arms fire from a pirate attack and minutes later she reported pirates on board. After notification of the attack, attempts were made to make contact with the MV Suez but to no avail. MV Suez was travelling in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) when attacked. Immediately after the first report a helicopter was directed to the ship but pirates had already taken over the command of the vessel.
The MV Suez, deadweight 17, 300 tonnes with a crew of 23 (Egypt, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India Nationalities), is a Panama flagged merchant vessel with a cargo of cement bags. EU NAVFOR is monitoring the situation.