Two Ships Escape Pirate Attacks

Evasive maneuvers, military assistance safeguard vessels
Pirates attacked two merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden in the last two days, but both ships escaped.

One of “K” Line’s container ships, the Hamburg Bridge, was attacked and fired on by pirates in a high-speed boat about 250 miles east of the Gulf of Aden in the late afternoon on Monday.

“K” Line said the ship sustained some minor damage to the hull, but quickly accelerated and took evasive maneuvers. After about 45 minutes, the pirates ended the pursuit.

“K” Line said none of the crew aboard the Panamanian-flag ship was injured in the attack and no oil leaked from the hull.

In a separate incident on Sunday, six pirates aboard two skiffs fired rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at the Torm Ragnhild but were unable to gain control of the ship.

After the Danish-flag chemical tanker sent a distress signal, a nearby French aircraft flew to the location where the ship was trying to evade the attackers by speeding up, zig-zagging and spraying its fire hose, the multinational anti-piracy force said on Monday.

"The skiffs broke off their attack after sighting the aircraft," the statement said, adding that a Japanese aircraft spotted the pirates' mother ship in the vicinity, identifying it as an Indian-flag dhow named Safina Al-Gayatri.

The Turkish warship TCG Gelibolu shadowed the Safina as it carried the skiffs to Somalia's coast, where the pirates abandoned the dhow, said the anti-piracy force, which is based with the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain.

(Source: Journal of Commerce)