News

19-05-2010

Royal Navy sinks two Somali pirate boats off African coast

MailOnline - Two pirate boats have been sunk after a raid by Royal Navy commandos off the coast of Africa.
It came after a larger vessel carrying ten Somali pirates was intercepted.
The larger ship towing two smaller 'attack' boats was spotted in the Somali Basin, a notorious pirate hotspot, by the crew of a Lynx helicopter from the frigate Chatham.
The Marine team stormed the bigger craft and found ten suspected pirates and a large amount of fuel on board.
They then cut loose the smaller boats, which were sunk by the UK warship and helicopter.
The pirates were forced to throw their weapons into the sea before being left with only enough fuel to return to Somalia.
Friday's assault, which took place around 150 miles off Tanzania, was in stark contrast to the way ministers in London refused to allow Royal Marines to rescue a British couple after their yacht had been hijacked by Somali pirates last year.
The Royal Navy has also in the past been criticised for failing to tackle Somali pirates they have intercepted.
Commander Simon Huntington, commanding officer of Chatham, a Type 22 frigate, said: 'I am extremely pleased that we have again successfully disrupted a suspected pirate attack group operating in the Somali Basin and prevented them from mounting attacks against merchant shipping.'
Maritime officials in East Africa hailed the operation as a clear warning to pirates, who are currently holding 20 foreign ships with almost 400 sailors in hideouts along the Somali coast.
Earlier this month, Russian special forces abseiled from a helicopter to storm an oil tanker hijacked off the coast of Yemen.
One pirate was shot dead and ten captured after they opened fire on the helicopter and a Russian naval speedboat.