Another ship hacked off Kenya
A new ship, the MV York, was attacked on Saturday October 23 and captured by pirates off Mombasa (Kenya). Two skiffs stormed it, flying the flag of Singapore, 50 miles east of Mombasa as it headed for the Seychelles. The capture has just been confirmed by the HQ of Atalanta, the European anti-piracy operation. The Turkish helicopter Gaziantep, part of the CTF 151 force, was sent to investigate. And they were actually able to observe pirates on board.
The MV York is a Singaporean-flagged 5.075-ton LPG tanker managed by a Greek company. It is led by a German captain and has 16 other crew members (2 Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos).
Le Golden Wave, a fishing boat hijacked on October 9, was seen nearby. And it seems certain that the pirates are now using it as a mother ship. Incidents have been increasing, in fact, off the coast of Kenya for almost a month. And it seems certain that the efforts of both the multinational forces and the Kenyan forces will now be to neutralize the mother ships operating in the area.
