The 26 crew members of the Greek-owned and Cypriot-flagged general cargo ship MV Pacific Express docked safely in Kenya's port city of Mombasa Saturday afternoon after surviving a pirate attack and devastating fire aboard the vessel.
By Andrew Mwangura
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| MV Pacific Express Crew Member (Somalia Report) |
Crew members were brought by Tanzania-flagged tug boat, KMC Eland, and were received alongside by Mombasa port police, immigration officials, ship owner, protecting agency and senior security intelligence officers before they checked into a Mombasa hotel.
A Philippines diplomatic official told Somalia Report that officials of the Philippines Embassy in Nairobi will be visiting the Filipino crew on Sunday morning to process travelling documents for the crew members.
A Ukrainian diplomatic official also told Somalia Report that the Ukrainian crew member of vessel, Kostyantyn Bugayov, will travel to Nairobi to get his travelling documents from the Ukrainian diplomatic mission.
The 47-year-old master of the vessel, Capt. Faraon Raanit Marono, and his crew were in a jovial mood and high spirits when they disembarked the Tanzania- flagged tug boat.
KMC Eland went back to the ill-fated Pacific Express to tow her into the Mombasa port in order to discharge her 3,300 ton cargo of steel wire and coils before undergoing major repair works.
KMC Eland and her Tanzania-flagged sister ship Comarco Osprey are presently on stand-by to salvage the Pacific Express some 154nm Southeast of Mombasa.
Pacific Express was boarded by pirates from two skiffs with six pirates in each carrying guns and an RPG on September 20 at 0734 UTC. She was carrying a cargo of steel, approximately 298nm Southeast of Mombasa, Kenya.
The crew consisted of 25 Filipinos and one Ukrainian. The pirates boarded the vessel and set fire to it after the crew retreated to the citadel [in frustration at not being able to breach the safe zone].
The NATO counter piracy operation's Italian flagship, ITS Andrea Doria, rescued the crew and the vessel was abandoned in location 04:24S - 042:20E.
The attack on Pacific Express came barely two days after a China-flagged general cargo ship, An Ning Jiang, was fired upon by six pirates with AK-47s in one skiff on September 17 at 1035 UTC while underway in position 03:54S - 041:047E, approximately 86nm Northeast of Mombasa, Kenya.
A bright white skiff approached the vessel; the crew retreated into the citadel and the security guards onboard exchanged fire with the pirates for about 45 seconds forcing the skiff to abort the attack.
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