[Iran Press TV Latest] The EU anti-piracy mission says a Danish-flagged container ship survived a pirate attack deep into the Indian Ocean, amid concerns that the bandits are growing bolder and expanding their domain. Tuesday's incident occurred some 1,000 nautical miles east of the Somali capital Mogadishu, just one day before a long-range attack on an oil tanker had been foiled, AFP quoted the EU NAVFOR mission as saying.
"Pirates attacked Tuesday a Danish-flagged container ship a day after a foiled long-range attack on an oil tanker in the same area deep into the Indian Ocean...[They] fired automatic weapons on MV Nelle Maersk but she could outrun the pirates with a high speed. No casualties were reported," a statement said.
The mission also noted a second attack early Tuesday on Marshall Islands-flagged container ship Felicitas Rickmers in the southern part of the Somali Basin.
On Monday, pirates reportedly fired rocket propelled grenades at the Hong Kong-flagged tanker BW Lion in their farthest-ever strike from the coast.
Since last year, the EU force has been monitoring the dangerous Gulf of Aden waters with a fleet of frigates and naval assets from more than 20 nations, in line with international attempts to curb growing piracy in one the world's busiest shipping routes.
Despite their presence, piracy is thriving in the region and armed bandits are now shifting their focus to the wider Indian Ocean, a vaster area much harder to patrol, venturing as far as the Seychelles and beyond.
In the past, the pirates would normally return the ship and its crew unharmed after receiving millions of dollars in ransoms. However, the presence of monitoring teams has seemingly made the pirates more dangerous.