SPANISH FISHING VESSEL ESCAPES ATTACK IN INDIAN OCEAN

Another Spanish tuna hauler thwarted an attack by pirates in the Indian Ocean in the early hours of Sunday morning, Spain's defence ministry confirmed.

The pirates fired bullets and a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) at the Spanish-flagged tunny vessel FV ORTUBE BERRIA in a 30 minute gun-battle, before being fought off by the ship's onboard private security guards, the ministry said in a statement.

The attack happened at 04h37 GMT (07h37 local time) some 230 nautical miles (426 kilometres) south-west of the Seychelles, towards Tanzania.

Three minutes later the gigantic purse-seiner FV INTERTUNA III informed the Spanish Maritime Operations Centre, which in turn could contact later the vessel under attack.

"No injuries or damage to equipment have been recorded," the ministry reported.

The pirates aboard two skiffs had chased the Spanish industry vessel for about 30 minutes before the private security guards with their military weapons fended them off, the ministry confirmed.

The captain, Iker Barbas, said there were about four people in each of the skiffs and they were going fast enough to have caught up with the trawler eventually.

"They would not give up. They would simply not give up," he told Cadena Ser radio. "If we had not been armed, they would have caught us."

The private security guards aboard the ship drove them off with gunfire, officials said.

A European Union naval force of Operación Atalanta (now dubbed TF 465) staging an anti-piracy operation in the Indian Ocean summoned the Portuguese frigate Álvarez Cabral and a maritime patrol plane to the area. It did not call in a Spanish frigate, Canarias, which is part of the EU anti-piracy mission, because it was 600 nautical miles northeast of the scene and thereby too far away, the ministry said.

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.

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