Somalia: A couple of failed pirate attacks

Well, the headline says Pirates try but fail in attempts to hijack two ships of Somalian coast, but the real story lies in having a response force nearby:

Bureau spokesman Noel Choong said pirates in two speedboats first attacked a Japanese-operated ship with a crew of 20 in the Gulf of Aden as it was heading to the Middle East from Singapore.

He says the Japanese ship managed to outrun the pirates in an hour-long chase and that none of its crew was injured.

A Liberian cargo ship in the area was attacked about three hours later in the same manner.

The ship's captain called the piracy centre in Kuala Lumpur, which alerted a naval patrol force in the area and a military aircraft sent to the scene managed to scare off the pirates.

The military aircraft was part of the multinational naval force currently deployed in the area. Choong declined to give details about the type of aircraft used or to which country it belonged.

I can't believe there isn't a emergency radio channel that merchant captains can't use to immediately tell the "naval force" they're in trouble.

And, where are the drones patrolling the skies along the sea lanes?