Seven pirates arrested by Eunavfor Atalanta

(B2) It was yesterday (Wednesday) late in the morning. A Greek boat – the And the end – flying the Panamanian flag, was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden (on a position: 1335 North and 04858 East). The merchant ship was able, through various avoidance maneuvers – change of direction, etc. – to escape the skiff which was pursuing them. During the maneuvers, the skiff capsized. He was apparently struck by the merchant ship.

The alert was given by radio. And, several warships (Spanish and South Korean) came to his aid. The Spanish supply ship of the EU Fleet Atalanta, the Marquis of the Ensenada (*), very close to there (15 nautical miles) dispatched his helicopter to the site and got closer very quickly. He was thus able to recover the 7 pirates, who had fallen by the wayside, and detained them on board, announced Atalanta HQ.

NB: a Korean destroyer, the King Munmu, also responded to the distress call and sent his helicopter to the area.

In search of evidence

Taking into account unfortunate precedents – forcing the pirates to be released due to lack of evidence legally acceptable to the Kenyan authorities – the Spanish sailors took several pieces of evidence. Starting with the captain's testimony. After observing the photos of people rescued, the captain of the Nepheli recognized the perpetrators of the attempted kidnapping of his boat " announced the Spanish Ministry of Defense. In addition to signing a statement that describes the attempted pirate attacks and how they managed to escape, the team of the visit of the Marquis of the Ensenada was able to note, on the boat, several bullet wounds in the windows and the superstructure, attesting to the reality of the attack. And in the boat belonging to the castaways, the Spaniards found, among other things, gasoline, a magnetic needle and a GPS...

Another successful attack

Furthermore, this morning, at 9:00 a.m. local time, the pirates made a new conquest. a small Dutch cargo ship weighing 2500 tonnes was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden (position: 1343 North 05035 East), with 8 crew members on board.

(*) The supply tanker Marquis of the Ensenada is commanded by Commander Carlos Alfonso Gomez Fernandez de Cordova and has a crew of 113 men. In addition to resupply missions for EUNAVFOR Atalanta ships, it carries out patrol and surveillance missions. He thus
ensured, at the end of April, the safe transport of the Italian cruise ship Melody – which had been attacked by the
hackers.

(NGV)