EU forces free crew from tanker seized by Somali pirates

[ad_1] European Union naval forces have rescued 24 sailors from a Maltese-flagged oil tanker that was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The Hellas Aphrodite, carrying petrol from India to South Africa, was seized on Thursday when armed pirates opened fireplace with machine weapons and rocket-propelled grenades earlier than boarding the vessel.

The crew locked themselves inside a fortified citadel whereas the attackers took management of the ship.

A Spanish warship, the ESPS Victoria, working below the EU's anti-piracy mission Operation Atalanta, reached the tanker on Friday afternoon. Particular forces boarded the vessel and located all 24 crew members unhurt.

"The crew is secure and no accidents have been reported. All through the incident, they remained within the citadel in direct contact with Atalanta," the EU mission stated, including {that a} "present of power" had prompted the pirates to desert the ship earlier than the warship arrived.

It added that the menace danger within the space "stays crucial" because the pirates are nonetheless within the space.

The rescue operation concerned a helicopter, drone and surveillance plane. Simply hours earlier, one other ship in the identical space was approached by a small speedboat however managed to evade it.

It's the newest in a spate of assaults which have created concern a couple of resurgence of piracy within the space.

Such exercise had declined when worldwide naval patrols and safety measures have been launched after peaking greater than a decade in the past.

Nevertheless, assaults by Yemen's Houthi rebels on ships within the Pink Sea, which have been carried out for the previous two years, have led vessels to be diverted via East Africa's Indian Ocean - creating new alternatives for Somali gangs.

There have been seven reported incidents of piracy that passed off off the coast of Somalia final yr, based on the Worldwide Maritime Bureau - together with three hijackings. It reported just one incident of piracy in 2023.