Danish navy storms ship, frees 25 crew from Somali pirates

Danish special forces have stormed a ship captured by Somali pirates and freed 25 crew members with no casualties, a European Union naval spokesman and the Danish navy said Friday.

The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged, Slovenian-owned Ariella sent a distress call in the early hours of the morning when it was boarded by pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

An Indian warship picked up the distress signal, then Danish warship Absalon, operating under NATO command, responded to the call once a French helicopter had established that pirates were on deck.

"The crew had locked themselves in a secure room ... once the special forces knew they were secure, they stormed the ship and the pirates fled," John Harbour, spokesman for the European Union's anti- piracy mission off Somalia (EU NAVFOR) told the German Press Agency dpa.

The crew - 15 Filipinos, seven Ukrainians, one Slovak, one Indian and one Bulgarian - were all safely rescued. Harbour said the special forces were in control of the ship, and that the pirates fled in advance of the attack.

"They (the pirates) could still be on the ship or may have gone overboard in a skiff," he said.

EU NAVFOR said in a statement that Russian Navy ship Neustrashimyy, operating nearby, boarded and detained a second pirate skiff.

Harbour said the rescue was possible because the ship was registered with the naval force and was travelling in a convoy along an agreed transit corridor, allowing a fast response.

The Absalon has already played a significant role in fighting piracy in the region. A year ago the crew of the Absalon rrested five Somali pirates who seized a Dutch ship and last weekend, after arriving for a new tour of duty, helped the crew of an Indian vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

The Antigua & Barbuda-flagged Ariella, was built in1983 and is 32,442 tons in weight.

Cmdr Dan B Termansen, commander of the Absalon, said that the crew had reported seeing a pirate firing an automatic weapon aboard their ship.

"I don't know if he jumped overboard when he saw the helicopter or later when he saw the special forces," he added.

"We searched the ship for hours and didn't find anybody."

However, Cmdr Mikael Bill, head of the Danish Admiralty in western Denmark, said he did not believe there had been any pirates aboard the ship when the special forces arrived.

"It is our clear understanding that there were no hijackers on board but our helicopter had deterred an action," he said.

A Russian warship, the Neustrashimy, successfully boarded and detained the pirates in the second skiff.
Cdr John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force in Nairobi, praised the NATO operation.

It was, Harbour told the Associated Press news agency, the first instance where a warship had been able to "send forces to stop a hijacking while it was in progress". [N.B.: This is NOT correct: In the case of an attack on a merchant vessel the Indian Navy helicopter attacked the boarding pirates, killed at least two and left the case to a French frigate for cleaning up. In the case of the yacht Carre D'as IV French commandos stormed and killed one Somali and in the case of S/Y TANIT French commandos stormed the vessel and besides three Somalis even killed the captain. In the case of container vessel Maersk Alabama the three pirates still negotiating while holding the captain were snipered.]
Warships typically do not intervene in hijackings because of the danger that crews may be hit by crossfire, he pointed out.

However, in this case the ship had registered with naval authorities, was travelling along a recommended transit corridor and was part of a group transit, ensuring the ships had a helicopter within 30 minutes' reaction time.

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