British guards escape as tanker is boarded by Somali pirates

Published on Friday 28 November 2008 21:15

TWO British security guards and an Irish colleague jumped into the sea to escape Somali pirates who were boarding the chemical tanker they were on in the Gulf of Aden yesterday. They were rescued by a helicopter from a German warship.

Some 25 Indian and two Bangladeshi crew members were left on board.

The ship's master had sent a distress call to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre, which relayed the alert to international forces policing Somali waters, an IMB spokesman, Noel Choong, said.

A German warship on patrol in the area sent helicopters to intervene, but they arrived after pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged tanker, Mr Choong said.

The guards worked for Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions. The company said it was aware of the incident on the chemical tanker, which it identified as MV Biscaglia.

In a statement, the company said: "We have been informed by coalition military authorities that three of our unarmed security staff were rescued from the water by a coalition helicopter and are currently on board a coalition warship in the Gulf of Aden."

Thomas Raabe, a spokesman for the German defence ministry, confirmed that a naval helicopter lifted three people out of the water in the Gulf of Aden at about 4am on Friday and deposited them on a French ship.

Germany and France have ships in the area as part of a Nato fleet which, along with warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia and the United States, have started patrolling the vast maritime corridor. They escort some merchant ships and respond to distress calls.

Mr Choong said ships "must continue to maintain a 24-hour vigil and radar watch so they can take early measures to escape pirates".

"Even though there are patrols, the warships cannot be everywhere at the same time," he added.

Also yesterday, the Greek merchant marine ministry said that the Malta-flagged Greek tanker MV Centauri had been released by pirates. It was seized on 18 September while carrying a load of salt from Ethiopia to a Kenyan port.

Some 40 ships have been hijacked this year, including, on 15 November, the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star, which was loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.

Mr Choong added that pirates are holding 15 ships and about 300 crew, for ransoms totalling millions of dollars.

WHAT NEXT?

SOMALIA'S chronic instability looks set to worsen, with Addis Ababa announcing yesterday that Ethiopian troops will be withdrawn from the country by "the end of year".

Ethiopia has previously sent thousands of troops to support Somalia's United Nations-backed government, which has failed to assert control.

The move leaves Somalia's weak government to face an increasingly powerful Islamic insurgency.