Somali Pirates: Two Ship Fight Off Attacks

Reported here:

03/11/2009 10.01 UTC

In the afternoon of November 2nd some 360 nautical miles east of Mombasa, Kenya, pirates attempted to hijack MV Harriette and MV Jo Cedar.

MV Harriette, a US flagged Cargo vessel was attacked by two small skiffs. The pirates opened fire with automatic weapons. Rocket Propelled grenades were also seen by the crew of the Harriette. The pirates tried to get onboard the vessel with a ladder but the master of Harriette made evasive maneuvers and succeeded in keeping the pirates off his ships. Nobody was reported injured on board.

Some hours later, MV Jo Cedar, a Dutch flagged Tanker, reported being under attack in roughly the same position. The vessel was under attack by three fast attack skiffs. The pirates fired their automatic weapons damaging the bridge wing. Rocket Propelled grenades were sighted but not fired. With evasive maneuvers and speed this vessel also escaped the clutches of the pirates. Nobody was reported injured on board. (Photo of MVJo Cedar by Michael Marshall from ShipSpotting.com and used in accord with ShipSpotting.com policies)

An EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft based in Seychelles was tasked to investigate the area and EU NAVFOR German warship FGS Karlsruhe was ordered immediately to search and neutralize the pirate attack group.

EU says some pirates disrupted here:

On the morning of Tuesday November 3rd EU NAVFOR German warship Karlsruhe stopped a suspected pirate mother skiff in the Indian Ocean. The skiff was possibly involved in the attack on US flagged Cargo vessel, MV Harriette or Dutch flagged M/V Jo Cedar.

EU NAVFOR German warship FGS Karlsruhe was tasked yesterday to investigate an area where two merchant vessels had been attacked. An EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft working in support of this operation located the skiff and directed the helicopter of Karlsruhe to the location.

On arrival at the scene, EU NAVFOR warship Karlsruhe launched a boarding team and, on approaching the skiff, persons on board were seen to throw objects into the water. The skiff’s four man crew were questioned and claimed to be fishermen. No nets were found and any weapons they may have had had been disposed of. However, some items that could be used in pirate attacks were still onboard and this pirate related paraphernalia was seized. After further questioning, the individuals were eventually released to return to the Somali coast.

UPDATE: Approximate locations of attacks: