Two pirate attacks dissected by Rear Admiral Pérez de Nanclares de Badajoz

(B2) While pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean have become very rare, they are nonetheless significant. For Rear Admiral Pérez de Nanclares de Badajoz, who is completing his term as head of the European maritime force off the coast of Somalia (EUNAVFOR Atalanta), “ it was an amazing experience ". Whether in Northwood, in Operation HQ or on the amphibious assault ship Castilla.

First incident in November 2017

« The first incident happened in November 2017. I was then in Northwood says the rear admiral interviewed by our Spanish colleague Antonio J. Armero of the online media today is . " We have received information about an attack about three hundred kilometers from the Somali coast. The pirates tried to attack a ship but were unsuccessful. IThey then went to get another one, this time a fishing boat with Spanish crew, which also managed to repel the attack »

Quick reaction

« We reacted quickly by deploying a maritime patrol aircraft to the area, which was certainly Spanish, which spotted the attacking vessel, while the Italian frigate which was the force's flagship at the time headed at high speed towards The area. He launched his helicopter to move the boat, then captured the pirates. "" Those were great tense moments ».

Second incident in October 2018

Another incident took place last October (2018). " We have received information about an attack on a merchant ship. Thanks to a maritime patrol aircraft, (...) we detected a whaling vessel (mother ship) that was involved. La Castilla was quite a distance from the area of ​​the attempted assault, and when we arrived we searched for it for about ten days. Eventually we found the whaler anchored near a remote beach off the coast of Somalia. »

The decision was then made to intervene. “The same night, we approached it and were able to confirm that it was indeed [the vessel spotted during] the failed attack. The pirates were not on board. We then towed her out of the nearby waters. We unloaded everything that could contaminate it and destroyed it so that it could no longer be used for criminal acts. (also read: Pirate ship spotted by Atalanta forces destroyed near Somali coast (V2)

(NGV, with the help of Capucine Allais, st. for Spanish)