Pirates fail in hijack attempts off Somalia

Published 10:36 pm Saturday, August 23, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Armed pirates in speedboats ambushed two ships off Somalia’s coast Saturday but failed to hijack them after one of the vessels sped away and the other was rescued by a military patrol aircraft, an official said.

Pirates first attacked a Japanese-operated ship with a crew of 20 in the Gulf of Aden, as the ship was heading to the Middle East from Singapore, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The ship’s crew was safe and no one was injured in the hourlong chase, Choong said.

“Two speed boats chased and opened fire at the Japanese-operated ship. A suspected mother ship was in the vicinity. But the Japanese ship managed to escape after the captain increased speed and took evasive maneuvers,” he said.

A Liberian cargo ship in the area was attacked three hours later in the same manner by armed pirates in two speedboats, Choong said. The ship’s captain called the piracy center in Kuala Lumpur, which alerted a naval force in the area, he said.

Choong said a military aircraft rushed to the scene and managed to scare off the pirates.

The military aircraft was part of the multinational naval force currently deployed in the area.

Choong said the pirates in both attacks were believed to be part of the same group.

The attempted hijacks come just days after pirates seized four other vessels — Malaysian, Iranian, Japanese and German — in the Gulf of Aden.