Pirates attack ship in Kenyan waters

Reported here, an attack on a Singapore registered ship in Kenyan waters:

A Singapore registered ship, the Kota Hening, was attacked by suspected Somali pirates on Thursday night in Kenya’s territorial waters, 180 nautical miles from Mombasa port.

The ship, owned by ASL Shipping PTE and managed by Anglo-Eastern Ltd of UK, had 330 containers on board.
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“We received a distress call and alerted the security agencies,” port harbour master Captain Twalib Khamis said.

He said armed pirates in three speed boats surrounded the ship and fired several shots but did not cause much damage.

The ship, with 22 crew members — four Indians and 18 Indonesians — arrived safely at Mombasa port at 10am.

Maritime sources told the Nation that the 8pm attack raised questions over the Kenya Navy’s effectiveness in safeguarding the country’s territorial waters as this was the second time a ship had been attacked in Kenyan waters in the past week.

The sources, who declined to name the ship, said the earlier attack, though unsuccessful, took place near Lamu.