European Union vessel reaches ship raided by pirates off Somalia; all 24 crew on board safe

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A European Union naval force on Friday reached a Malta-flagged tanker earlier attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, finding all its 24 mariners safe after an assault that raised renewed fears about piracy in the region.

The seizure of the Hellas Aphrodite, carrying a load of gasoline from India to South Africa, ended as the ESPS Victoria came alongside the vessel.

Special forces from the Spanish frigate boarded the tanker and released the 24 crew members who had locked themselves inside the ship’s citadel when the attack began Thursday, said the EU’s Operation Atalanta, an anti-piracy coalition.

Operation Atalanta said “an early show of force” by the Victoria encouraged the pirates to flee the vessel, without elaborating. The operation included a helicopter, a drone and another aircraft alongside the frigate.

“The threat assessment in the area surrounding the incident remains critical,” Operation Atalanta warned. “The mother ship and the pirates remain in the area. A coordinated joint operation is ongoing to intercept the dhow used in this attack.”

The private security firm Diaplous Group said the Victoria would remain alongside the Hellas Aphrodite until it could restart its engines and sail away.

The pirates fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades in their assault Thursday. Tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed the tanker over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off the Somali coast Friday.

As the vessel rushed to the scene, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center warned of another incident in the same area on Friday. The UKMTO said a small vessel carrying three people, believed to be part of the same pirate group responsible for the seizure of the Hellas Aphrodite, tried to get close to another ship, but the ship outran the pirate vessel.

The attack on the Hellas Aphrodite comes after another vessel, the Cayman Islands-flagged Stolt Sagaland, was targeted Monday in a suspected pirate attack that saw its armed security force and the attackers shooting at each other, the EU force said. Other incidents also have been linked to the same pirate gang, believed to be operating from an Iranian fishing boat it earlier seized.

Piracy off the Somali coast peaked in 2011, when 237 attacks were reported. Somali piracy in the region in 2011 cost the world’s economy some $7 billion, with $160 million paid out in ransoms, according to the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group.

The threat was diminished by increased international naval patrols, a strengthening central government in Somalia, and other efforts.

However, Somali pirate attacks have resumed at a greater pace over the last year, in part due to the insecurity caused by Yemen’s Houthi rebels launching attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

In 2024, there were seven reported incidents off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau. So far this year, multiple fishing boats have been seized by Somali pirates. The Hellas Aphrodite represents the first commercial ship seized by pirates off Somalia since May 2024.

Local fisherman Osman Abdi, who lives in Mogadishu, said pirate attacks fueled fear and caused stigma for his nation.

“Since the pirates have committed hijackings today, it creates a problem for us,” Abdi said. “Their actions could be held against us, as many will consider us fishers to be pirates as well, and that instills fear in us.”

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Associated Press writer Omar Faruk in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to this report.