Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Russian, British Ships Repel Somali Pirates

By Reid Hulett

On Tuesday, Somali pirates attempted to hijack yet another ship passing through the waters by Somalia. The pirates tried to hijack a Danish cargo ship, but their attempt was foiled due to help from British and Russian ships. The Russian Navy spokesman, Capt. Igor Dygalo, said that both them and the British navy sent up a helicopter to prevent this hijack from being successful. He said that the pirates were firing on the vessel with automatic weapons and made several attempts to seize it, all of which failed. Russia started to send ships out to help after the pirates seized a Ukrainian freighter that had three Russians aboard back in September.

Last Wednesday, the pirates were successful in seizing the Karagol, a Turkish tanker bound for India. The vessel was hijacked 16 miles off the coast of Yemen, and was carrying 4,500 tons of chemicals and 14 Turkish personnel. The number of naval attacks off Somalia is now 84. 33 ships have been successfully hijacked, and 12 of them are still in their hands.

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