Royal Navy stages daring rescue of ship seized by Somali pirates
Source:Daily Mirror Reporter
THE Royal Navy saved the crew of a ship after it was hijacked by pirates – the second rescue in a week.
HMS Somerset’s Merlin helicopter tracked the fishing boat off Somalia before Royal Marines were ordered to board.
The Type 23 frigate’s captain, Commander Paul Bristowe, ordered the attack last week after HMS Somerset’s Merlin helicopter had shadowed the suspect vessel in the Indian Ocean 100 miles off the Somali coast.
A boarding party of Marines brought the Pakistani crew to safety after the pirates armed with machine guns surrendered without firing a shot. They were held while the Pakistani crew was freed.
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| Somerset Merlin Helo Fires A Warning (Photo: Daily Mail) |
Update:
The Ministry of Defence said that the dhow had been hijacked by pirates to use as a base and was involved in attacks on merchant shipping.
The ministry said pirates were holding a Pakistani crew of 20 on board when the British vessels HMS Somerset and RFA Fort Victoria -- part of NATO's counter-piracy task force -- closed in on the dhow last Friday some 200 miles off the coast of Somalia.
"This operation demanded high levels of seamanship to ensure that the dhow was kept under close observation as the boarding party moved in," said Capt. Shaun Jones.
Backed up by a helicopter, a boarding team surrounded the dhow and scaled the side of the sailing vessel -- a "quite tense" experience, according to the boarding team's commander.
"Through my weapon sight I could see dark figures moving in the shadows on the bridge," said Capt. Rod Yapp. "We quickly boarded and secured the dhow, then mustered the 24 occupants on her bow."
While pirates were seen ditching equipment and weapons before the boarding and setting a skiff adrift, the ministry said a "large cache" of weapons -- including a rocket-propelled grenade -- and equipment from a previously pirated ship were found on board.
The ministry said the four suspected pirates have been handed over to Italian authorities, on suspicion of involvement in the attack on the Italian cargo vessel MV Montecristo on Oct. 11
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The raiders were then transferred to a US warship in the area.
It was the first attack ordered on a mothership and came three months after Major General Buster Howes, Britain’s most senior Royal Marine and former head of the EU naval force in the Gulf, warned a more aggressive stance was needed “to erode the pirates’ sense of impunity”.
Earlier in the week another Royal Navy team freed the crew of an Italian bulk carrier, Montecristo, after finding a message in a bottle SOS.
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