Submit your comments on this article | |
Africa Horn | |
Trawler thwarts pirate attack | |
2009-11-30 | |
A Spanish fishing boat thwarted an attack by pirates in the Indian Ocean in the early hours of Sunday morning, Spain's defence ministry said. The pirates fired at and threw a grenade at the Spanish-flagged Ortube Berria, before being fought off by the ship's onboard private security guards, the ministry said in a statement.
"No injuries or damage to equipment have been recorded," the ministry said. Around 50 private security contractors were sent from Spain in mid-November to protect Spanish fishing trawlers from piracy attacks. Pirates seized another Spanish trawler, the Alakrana, on October 2 when it was over 300 nautical miles from the Somali coast. They eventually released the vessel along with its 36 crew on November 17, claiming to have been paid $4m as a ransom. The Spanish government has refused to follow France's lead in deploying its army to protect ships in Somali waters, preferring instead to use private security firms. | |
Posted by:Fred |
#1 ION FREEREPUBLIC > seems the ROYAL NAVY routinely releases Somali Pirates even when the latter are captured or caught in the act, for fear of Pirates attempting to request formal asylum iff "detained" in Britain??? "GITMO IN BRITAIN" > IOW, the Somali Pirates are Britain's GITMO-style AFPAK Islamist Militants??? |
Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-11-30 01:25 |