A Spanish fishing boat thwarted an attack by pirates in the Indian Ocean in the early hours of Sunday morning, Spain's defence ministry said.The pirates fired at and threw a grenade at the Spanish-flagged Ortube Berria, before being fought off by the ship's onboard private security guards, the ministry said in a statement.
| The Somalis have a legitimate beef with European fishing fleets, particularly the Spanish and French boats, who along with the Taiwanese have been fishing the East African seas well beyond their capacity. One generally doesn't express disagreements with hand grenades, but perhaps I'm just being culturally insensitive. |
"No injuries or damage to equipment have been recorded," the ministry said.
Around 50 private security contractors were sent from Spain in mid-November to protect Spanish fishing trawlers from piracy attacks.
Pirates seized another Spanish trawler, the Alakrana, on October 2 when it was over 300 nautical miles from the Somali coast. They eventually released the vessel along with its 36 crew on November 17, claiming to have been paid $4m as a ransom.
The Spanish government has refused to follow France's lead in deploying its army to protect ships in Somali waters, preferring instead to use private security firms.