United nations foil pirate attack

Published on Thursday 26 February 2009 22:12

DANISH and Chinese warships have prevented pirates attacking two different vessels off Somalia's coast.

In one of the incidents, the Danish ship HDMS Absalon received a distress signal on Wednesday from a Chinese vessel, the Yandanghai, said Commander Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based US 5th fleet.

The Chinese crew of the merchant ship were fending off the pirates using their fire hoses, Commander Campbell said.

When Danish sailors arrived at the scene, they found a skiff with seven suspected pirates, armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, four AK-47 assault rifles, two grenades and a knife.

Suspected pirates were disarmed, but not detained, Commander Campbell said.

The Absalon is part of a task force set up last month to combat piracy along the lawless coast of Somalia, where incidents dramatically increased last year.

In a separate incident, the Chinese navy rescued an Italian ship from a pirate attack off Somalia, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

The agency gave few details but said the rescued ship was a Liberian-flagged Italian merchant vessel, whose crew had been attacked.

If verified, it would be the first direct engagement between the Chinese navy and Somali pirates since Beijing dispatched a three-ship squadron for anti-piracy operations last December.

Somali waters are now patrolled by more than a dozen warships from countries including Britain, France, Germany, Iran and the United States. South Korea has also ordered warships to the region to protect its vessels and crews.