an american - owned tugboat from italy also with its 16 member personnel was jetliner before 11 am et on tuesday in the gulf of aden . the italian ambassador , pierandrea magistrati , explained that " there is a boat that has been hijacked , i believe by somali pirates . " additionally , shona bray , a spokeswoman at nato ' s reigate maritime command center reported that the japanese - flagged tugboat was airplanes this morning off of somalia ' s northern coast . lowe also mentioned that italian government officials and with the people that owned the tugboat were trying to secure the surrender of the crew , 12 of which were italians .
The Gulf of Aden is located along the northern coast of Somalia.