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Africa Horn

Danish warship thwarts pirate attack on Chinese vessel in Gulf of Aden

2009-02-27

A Danish naval warship on Thursday thwarted an attack by armed pirates on a Chinese vessel in the Gulf of Aden, the US Naval Forces Central Command said. The Bahrain-based command said that Danish support ship HDMS Absalon had "successfully deterred an attempted pirate attack on the Chinese M/V Yandanghai."

The crew of the distressed ship had managed to prevent the attackers from climbing on board by using fire hoses against them.

"Absalon closed on the coordinates given by the Chinese ship following their distress call and spotted a skiff matching the description given by the captain of the motor vessel," it said in a statement. Several weapons, including a rocket-propelled grenade, four AK-47 assault rifles, two grenades and a knife were found after a team boarded the skiff. The crew of the distressed ship had managed to prevent the attackers from climbing on board by using fire hoses against them, the statement said. Two crewmembers sustained minor wounds in the attack, it added. No arrests were reported.

Chinese state media earlier reported that Chinese naval forces had thwarted a pirate attack on a Liberian-flagged Italian merchant ship on Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia. It was the second time that a Chinese naval convoy, sent to the region on a landmark mission to protect the country's shipping from pirates, has come to the aid of foreign ships, according to Xinhua. The force's mission marked China's first potential combat mission beyond its territorial waters in centuries.

US and European ships have also been sent to the waters off Somalia, where pirates attacked more than 100 vessels last year.

Posted by:Fred

#13 I sense the Chad admiralty at work,

Posted by: Shipman 2009-02-27 23:43

#12 My guess would be the Gazans, they seem to have unlimited cash for weapons, and have a seaport.

The Israeli Navy patrols the Gazan part of the sea pretty closely, although mostly looking for weapons smuggling, I believe. Not much opportunity to go a-pirating unobserved in that neighborhood.

Posted by: trailing wife 2009-02-27 23:40

#11 Gazan pirates? Combine tunneling genes with water surface warfare, sounds like drowned rodents

Posted by: Frank G 2009-02-27 22:46

#10 what is your guess/knowledge about that?

Gazans? There hasn't been much, if any, piracy in the western Med. Maybe they'd be lower/mid-echelon, or ship-traffic observers. I don't think they'd sully themselves to attack and board ships as long as there are 'blacks' do do the scut-work.

One thing to remember is that the Gulf of Aden (and the Straits of Hormuz) have long had smuggling, slave trading, and piracy. It wouldn't take much for some of the more enterprising criminals to branch out. And it's amazing how well money buys access, information and cooperation.

Posted by: Pappy 2009-02-27 22:38

#9 what is your guess/knowledge about that?

My guess would be the Gazans, they seem to have unlimited cash for weapons, and have a seaport.

Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-02-27 19:29

#8 Based on news and a few tother things, my guess is a smallish (numbers-wise) but extensive syndicate ranging from Egypt to Kenya, Yemen, and UAE. Perhaps Pakistan as well. Links/contacts/bought-and paid-for people in other countries.

Posted by: Pappy 2009-02-27 15:26

#7 The ones I'd like to see hang are the ones outside Somalia who are the organization behind the pirates.

what is your guess/knowledge about that? I'd think there is a yemeni angle, given the links over and over, but the only transnational african organized crime (as opposed to crooked governements or para-governements) I can think of is from nigeria, with its ramification into Europe.

Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-02-27 13:33

#6 'Payback' is your term. But I agree that for most of the fisherman, it's either this or starve.

The point of the exercise is to change the equation for the pirates without getting overly bloodthirsty.

The term is 'economy of force'. The article didn't mention arrests, but I sumrise that's the result.

The ones I'd like to see hang are the ones outside Somalia who are the organization behind the pirates.

Posted by: Pappy 2009-02-27 11:55

#5 A little payback for the Chinese raping their coastline clean of fish, so there's no work left for honest fishermen to do.

Posted by: gromky 2009-02-27 06:52

#4 I was hoping 'no arrests' meant summary executions.

Prolly not.

Posted by: Bobby 2009-02-27 06:03

#3 How will a good soaking prevent them from coming back for a shot at a $1M prize? Make 'em pay by sinking their boat and having to swim back to shore. That ought to get them to thinking.

Posted by: gorb 2009-02-27 03:33

#2 Not necessarily. The point of the exercise is to change the equation for the pirates without getting overly bloodthirsty (that's not quite how I'd do it but Pappy has a better handle on this than I do). Capture them, harass them, keep them looking over their shoulders and scanning the horizon when at sea, get the merchant ship captains and crews to be a little smarter, and after a while piracy doesn't pay as well.

Posted by: Steve White 2009-02-27 00:30

#1 No arrests were reported. Argh!
Feeble, useless dicking around the problem.

Posted by: Dogsbody 2009-02-27 00:20

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