‘Pirates’ firing machine weapons and rocket-propelled grenades have boarded a tanker off the coast of Somalia on Thursday, in response to stories.
The UK Maritime Commerce Operations (UKMTO) company has issued an alert to warn ships within the space of the assault, which it situated 560 nautical miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia, within the Indian Ocean.
“The Master of a vessel has reported being approached by one small craft on its stern. The small craft fired small arms and RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] towards the vessel,” UKMTO stated in a press release.
Maritime safety agency Ambrey additionally reported that an assault was underway, saying a Malta-flagged tanker had reportedly been boarded by pirates.
In keeping with the maritime specialists Vanguard Tech and Ambrey, particulars of the attacked vessel correspond to the Hellas Aphrodite, which modified its observe and slowed down on the time of the assault.
The ship’s homeowners and managers couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
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The vessel was en route from Sikka, India, to Durban, South Africa, Ambrey stated.
“The pirates were reported to have approached on a skiff and opened fire on the tanker,” Ambrey stated in assertion, including that Somali pirates have been working from an Iranian fishing boat that they had seized.
One other maritime safety agency, the Diaplous Group, stated the attacked tanker had a crew of 24 mariners, all of whom reportedly locked themselves into the ship’s citadel for security in the course of the assault.
The vessel didn’t have an armed safety crew aboard it, the agency added.
The European Union’s Operation Atalanta, a counter-piracy mission across the Horn of Africa, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
That EU power has responded to different current pirate assaults within the space and had issued a current alert to shippers {that a} pirate group was working off Somalia and assaults have been “almost certain” to occur.
Thursday’s assault comes after one other vessel, the Cayman Islands-flagged Stolt Sagaland, discovered itself focused in a suspected pirate assault that included each its armed safety power and the attackers taking pictures at one another, the EU power stated.
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