Somali Pirates Strike for First Time in Two Years
The EU Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) reported that a group of Somali pirates broke a years-long period of quiet in the region with an attack on a chemical tanker.
According to MANA, Six armed men in a fast-moving skiff approached the tanker CPO Korea some 330 nm off Somalia’s east coast and exchanged fire with the vessel's embarked security team. The crew of the Korea put on more speed, altered course, deployed fire hoses and drove off the attackers. She continued on with her transit, and no casualties were reported.EU NAVFOR noted that this was the first pirate attack on a merchant vessel in the region in over two years. Piracy in the eastern Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden peaked in 2008-2011, and pirates held hundreds of seafarers and dozens of vessels hostage over the worst years of the epidemic.
CPO Korea’s operator, Offen Tankers, issued a message of thanks to the vessel's crew and her security team, and called for continued policy measures to address piracy in the region.