Ariella stormed

Danish marines have stormed and freed a Slovenian bulk carrier which was hijacked on Friday morning in the Gulf of Aden.

All 25 crew onboard the 32,400-dwt Ariella (built 1983) are safe but there are fears some pirates could remain hidden onboard, EU NAVFOR media spokesperson Commander John Harbour told TradeWinds.

The Antigua & Barbuda-flagged handysize was snatched this morning in the Gulf of Aden while en route to Indonesia.

Harbour said EU warships were notified within 15 minutes of the ship's seizure and an EU aircraft flew over and confirmed it had been hijacked. Crucially, the crew infored naval forces that they had secured themselves in a compartment onboard paving the way for a release by force.

The Danish warship Absalon dispatched a helicopter to hover over the vessel while boarding craft were also launched. Marines then boarded the bulker and rescued the crew.

Harbour said a search of the ship is still being carried out to determine if there are still any pirates onboard, while it is thought at least some may have escaped.

It is unknown if there was any shoot out between the marines and the pirates but there are no reports of any casualties at present.

NATO later confirmed the development in a statement which read: "The master of the Ariella had sent out a may-day call that pirates, armed with guns had boarded his ship and he needed urgent assistance.

"The crew had managed to lock themselves away in a safe room, enabling the NATO warship [Absalon] to send a team of specially trained forces to board the ship and regain control."

The Ariella's crew consists of Slovenians and Filipinos. TradeWinds has been unable to get any comment from the ship's owner and operator, Portoroz-based Splosna Plovba.

This is the first case where an international naval force has stepped in to retake a hijacked merchant vessel by force. French troops have in the past stormed two hijacked yachts and freed their crews. In one case, involving the yacht Tanit which was taken last April, one of the French crew members was killed in the ensuing crossfire.

Troops from the Somali region of Puntland have in the past stormed a hijacked merchant vessel and retaken it. Some soldiers as well as troops were killed when the 3,250-dwt general cargoship Wael H (built 1976) was retaken in October 2008 having been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden some days before.

Printable version Newsletter sign up