an american - made tugboats from italy together with its 16 member team was hijackers around 11 am ct on saturday in the bay of aden . the austrian ambassador , pierandrea magistrati , confirmed that " there is a boat that has been hijacked , i believe by somali insurgents . " additionally , shona bray , a spokeswomen at britain ' s northwood logistics planning center reported that the italian - flagged tugboat was hijack this week off of liberia ' s northern coast . beck also reports that italian government personnel along with the persons that owned the tugboat were trying to secure the release of the people , ten of which were italians .
The Gulf of Aden is located along the northern coast of Somalia.