Bartamaha (Nairobi):- A helicopter from a Danish warship under NATO operational control foiled a pirate attack Saturday on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, a Danish navy spokesman said.
The Danish ship Esbern Snare launched a helicopter in response to a call for help from a merchant vessel, the Danish navy’s duty officer, who declined to give his name, told AFP.
“The merchant ship was shot upon. When the helicopter went over there … the pirates aborted their attack and tried to head for Somalia,” he said.
“To stop the pirates’ boat from getting there, the helicopter fired one shot in front of the boat and then they stopped,” he added.
A statement from NATO’s maritime command said the attacked merchant ship was the Panamanian flagged MV Caribbean Carrier.
It added the pirates also tried to attack Norwegian ship MV Hoegh Oslo, but fled when the Esbern Snare’s helicopter arrived at her position.
A team from the Danish ship boarded the pirates’ boat and “found spent and unused ammunition, knives and other piracy related paraphernalia onboard,” the statement said.
Danish news agency Ritzau said the pirates were later released.
The Danish ship’s captain, Carsten Fjord-Larsen, said NATO ships were ready for counter-piracy missions.
“The nature of the counter-piracy mission down here is challenging. We stay poised and sharp, because in an instant, we have to be ready to react to a call for help,” he said in the statement.
Esbern Snare is currently the flagship of NATO’s Operation Ocean Shield, an anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa.
Naval missions have boasted success in curbing pirate attacks but the number of hijacked ships and detained sailors remains at one of its highest levels since Somali piracy surged in 2007.
Unofficial figures show 2009 was the most prolific year yet for Somali pirates, with more than 200 attacks — including 68 successful hijackings — and ransoms believed to exceed 50 million dollars in total.
————————————————
Source:-AFP
