Pursuit in the ocean. The Topaz releases 27 hostages and arrests 9 pirates
(BRUSSELS2) The Seychelles Coast Guard vessel the Topaz carried out, today, an interception of a mother ship used by the pirates and freed the hostages who were on board. For several days, the maritime patrol planes of the European anti-piracy force EUNAVFOR Atalanta (the Luxembourg Merlin III and the Swedish Dash 8) had been tracking the pirates.
Pirate chip breaks. They thus first captured a ship on MV Arzoo with a crew of 14 Indians (released safe and sound). Running out of fuel, they had decided to take another prey. An Iranian boat, the MV Abi Al, with 21 crew (15 Iranians, 6 Pakistanis), was thus captured on Friday. Then it is the turn of a fishing boat registered in the Seychelles, the FV Galatea, with 6 Seychellois on board, to be captured overnight from Sunday to Monday, 90 miles southeast of the island of Mahé (the main island of the Seychelles). The pirates, finding this last boat too small, embarked the 6 crew, took the Galate in tow and set sail for northern Somalia with their 27 hostages.
Ocean Skirmishes
It is then that the Topaz comes into play. Guided by the Swedish patrol plane of Eunavfor which follows the situation from the sky, it locates the dhow. Stop orders are taken. But the hackers are responding "threateningly". In fact, they fire rocket launchers at the Coast Guard. THE Topaz then fires severe warning shots. The hackers continue. A chase then begins. The interception order having been given by the Seychelles authorities before the Dhow could reach the Somali coast (NB: several Seychellois have already been taken hostage in the past, on board ships Serenity, Indian Ocean Explorer and - lately - with the Spanish tuna boat alakrana ; a case followed with emotion in the archipelago where the issue of piracy is now very sensitive).
Shot at goal
On Monday afternoon (we are then 250 miles northwest of Mahé), the Topaz coast guards then fire on the dhow's engine, which causes a fire on board. The pirates, the Iranian crew and the Seychellois then jumped into the sea. The Topaz then recovered everyone: the Seychellois (Joel, Francis, Emannuel, Richard, Roland and Antoine - all safe and sound), the Iranian crew ( one of the sailors had been wounded by a shot), as well as the 9 pirates. Everyone is currently on their way to the Seychelles, where they are expected tomorrow afternoon in Victoria according to the archipelago's coast guard headquarters.
"Action"
It should be noted that if this is not the first catch of the Seychelles, it is the first very "offensive" action of the Topaz. The Seychellois have been - for several months - trained and specially trained in the fight against piracy. In particular by the military advisers present on the archipelago (French and British). This action carried out in close cooperation with European forces thus proves the relevance of the support and training provided to local forces.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(aiming to transform them from a fisheries surveillance force to a more active one, read here)
