Piraterie — EU NAVFOR disabling fire stops fleeing pirate skiff

This morn­ing, 5 of May, the EU NAVFOR Swedish Mar­itime Patrol Air­craft detect­ed a Pirate Action Group (PAG) approx­i­mate­ly 400 Nau­ti­cal Miles North West of Sey­chelles.

EU NAVFOR Swedish Mar­itime Patrol Air­craft Source: EU NAVFOR Click to enlarge

EU NAVFOR French war­ship La Fayette Source: EU NAVFOR Click to enlarge

EU NAVFOR French war­ship La Fayette was sent to the posi­tion by the Force Com­man­der Jan Thorn­qvist onboard the Flag ship HSwMS Carl­skro­na to inter­cept the PAG. 

Lat­er in the after­noon, FS La Fayette found the PAG, con­sist­ing of one Whaler and two skiffs with a total of 12 sus­pect­ed pirates. The moth­er ship and one skiff stopped imme­di­ate­ly when ordered to do so, but the remain­ing skiff tried to escape. A marks­man from Lafayette was able to stop the flee­ing skiff with dis­abling fire which destroyed both engines. All pirates have now been apprehended. 

Onboard the skiff was a quan­ti­ty of arms and lad­ders and these have been seized. The EU NAVFOR Dutch war­ship Johan De Witt was close by and is pro­vid­ing assis­tance to the operation. 

EU NAVFOR Soma­lia – Oper­a­tion ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort mer­chant ves­sels car­ry­ing human­i­tar­i­an aid of the World Food Pro­gramme (WFP) and ves­sels of African Union Mis­sion in Soma­lia, AMISOM and to pro­tect vul­ner­a­ble ves­sels in the Gulf of Aden and Indi­an Ocean and to deter and dis­rupt pira­cy. EU NAVFOR also mon­i­tors fish­ing activ­i­ty off the coast of Somalia. 

Press Release by EU NAVFOR Pub­lic Affairs Office