02 January 2009

Incident: Kriti Episkopi attacked

Pirates made two attacks on the Greek oil tanker Kriti Episkopi in an attempt to capture it in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia. "As soon as Greek authorities were alerted to the attack, the Ministry immediately informed the EU Anti-piracy naval mission Atalanta." An EU warplane and helicopter were sent to rescue the ship, followed by a frigate. Pirates were diven off. (ONI Worldwide Threat to Shipping, 1/8/09)

According to the AP, the attempt was made by men with rifles and rocket propelled grenades in three speedboats. They were driven off by crew directing firehoses at the pirates. In the AP story, the EU aircraft arrives on the scene launched from TF 150 ships. (Wikipedia, "List of ships attacked by Somali pirates," 12/31/09)