Somali pirates were captured by U.S. Navy forces on Friday after five were captured within the…
Somali pirates were captured by U.S. Navy forces on Friday after five were captured within the past 24 hours.
U.S. officials say eleven pirates were captured in the Indian Ocean and were let go after the Navy ship sunk a “mother” ship, according to a statement released by the Fifth Fleet unit.
The incident played out as the Sierra-Leone flagged tanker MV Evita was being attacked by the pirates approximately 300 miles from the island of Seychelles. The pirates opened fire on the tanker and the tanker was able to evade the assailants by increasing its speed and firing flares to ward off the pirates before help arrived.
“Eleven suspected pirates were aboard the skiffs, along with fuel drums and grappling hooks,” said the Navy in a statement. “The MPRA had previously witnessed the suspected pirates throwing ladders and equipment overboard.”
Maritime allies located the pirate ship and noticed that the pirates had boarded skiffs, heading toward the MV Evita.
“A SH-60B Seahawk helicopter, from Farragut, was immediately dispatched to monitor the pirates while the suspected pirate skiffs were boarded,” said the Fifth Fleet, which is based out of Bahrain.
The USS Farragut crew then sunk the main pirate ship and captured the pirates aboard the skiffs.
“After ensuring that the suspected pirates had no means to conduct any more attacks, all 11 were released on the two small skiffs, while the mother skiff was destroyed and sunk,” said the statement.
The USS Farragut is apart of the CTF 151 coalition, which belongs to the Combined Maritime Forces.
The CMF is a task force that seeks to prevent piracy, terrorism, and illegal drug and human trafficking. According to the Fifth Fleet, the CMF patrols 2.5 million square miles of international waters.
On Thursday, the USS Nicholas captured five alleged Somali pirates near Seychelles.
