DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A European Union naval pressure raced Friday to achieve a Malta-flagged tanker held by pirates off the coast of Somalia as officers warned of one other tried method by the gang.
The seizure of the Hellas Aphrodite, carrying a load of gasoline from India to South Africa, put its crew of 24 mariners in danger and raised fears of additional assaults by the pirates working within the area.
The pirates fired machine weapons and rocket-propelled grenades of their assault Thursday, later boarding the Hellas Aphrodite as its crew hid in a locked-down citadel aboard the vessel, officers stated. Monitoring information analyzed by The Related Press confirmed the tanker over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off the Somali coast.
The EU’s Operation Atalanta, an anti-piracy coalition, stated Friday its “belongings are near the incident and are closing distance, able to take the suitable motion and to reply respectively to this occasion.”
Because the EU rushed to the scene, the British army’s United Kingdom Maritime Commerce Operations heart warned of one other incident in the identical space on Friday. The UKMTO stated a small vessel carrying three folks, believed to be a part of the identical pirate group answerable for the seizure of the Hellas Aphrodite, tried to get shut to a different ship, however the ship outran the pirate vessel.
The assault on the Hellas Aphrodite comes after one other vessel, the Cayman Islands-flagged Stolt Sagaland, was focused Monday in a suspected pirate assault that noticed its armed safety pressure and the attackers capturing at one another, the EU pressure stated. Different incidents even have been linked to the identical pirate gang, believed to be working from an Iranian fishing boat it earlier seized.
Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011, when 237 assaults had been reported. Somali piracy within the area in 2011 value the world’s financial system some $7 billion, with $160 million paid out in ransoms, based on the Oceans Past Piracy monitoring group.
The risk was diminished by elevated worldwide naval patrols, a strengthening central authorities in Somalia, and different efforts.
Nonetheless, Somali pirate assaults have resumed at a larger tempo over the past yr, partly because of the insecurity attributable to Yemen’s Houthi rebels launching assaults within the Crimson Sea hall over the Israel-Hamas conflict within the Gaza Strip.
In 2024, there have been seven reported incidents off Somalia, based on the Worldwide Maritime Bureau. Up to now this yr, a number of fishing boats have been seized by Somali pirates. The Hellas Aphrodite represents the primary industrial ship seized by pirates off Somalia since Might 2024.
Native fisherman Osman Abdi, who lives in Mogadishu, stated pirate assaults fueled worry and brought about stigma for his nation.
“For the reason that pirates have dedicated hijackings immediately, it creates an issue for us,” Abdi stated. “Their actions might be held in opposition to us, as many will take into account us fishers to be pirates as effectively, and that instills worry in us.”
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Related Press author Omar Faruk in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to this report.
