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17 Mar 2024

Indian Navy Seizes Ship from Somali Pirates and Rescues 17 Crew

(Photo: Indian Navy)

Indian naval forces including special commandos seized a cargo vessel that had been hijacked by Somali pirates, rescuing 17 crew members, a spokesperson for the navy said on Saturday.The navy said in a post on social media platform X that all 35 pirates aboard the ship, the Maltese-flagged bulk cargo vessel Ruen, had surrendered, and the ship had been checked for the presence of illegal arms, ammunition and contraband.The Ruen had been hijacked last year and the navy said it had…

17 Mar 2024

Explosion Reported Near Ship Off Yemen Coast

Map courtesy JMIC

The captain of a merchant ship east of Yemen's Aden has reported an explosion near the ship, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said early on Sunday."No damage to the vessel has been reported and the crew are reported safe. The vessel is proceeding to its next port of call," UKMTO said in an advisory note.The ship was 85 nautical miles (157 km, 98 miles) east of Aden, in an area where Houthi militant groups often target ships they say are linked to Israel or the United States.Months of Red Sea attacks by Yemen's Houthi militants have disrupted global shipping…

14 Mar 2024

Hijacked Ship May Have Been Used in Attack near Somalia

Source: EUNAVFOR

Somali pirates who seized the Maltese-flagged bulk cargo ship Ruen in December may have used the vessel in the takeover of a Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia two days ago, the European Union naval force said on Thursday.Somali pirates caused chaos in important global waterways for a decade leading up to 2018, but had been dormant until a resurgence of attacks starting late last year.If confirmed, Tuesday's attack from a confiscated ship would mark a return…

12 Mar 2024

Armed Pirates Board Cargo Ship Off Somalia

© Venera / Adobe Stock

Twenty armed people have boarded a cargo ship off the coast of Somalia and have taken control of it, a maritime security firm said on Tuesday.The vessel is the latest to be targeted following a resurgence of attacks by Somali pirates in recent months although the maritime security firm, Ambrey, did not specify that it was Somali pirates who boarded the ship.Ambrey said the ship was a Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier - a type of merchant ship used to transport large amounts of cargo…

06 Mar 2024

Explosion Reported Near US-Owned Cargo Ship Off Yemen

© Kalyakan / Adobe Stock

An explosion in the vicinity of a Barbados-flagged, U.S.-owned cargo ship off the port of Aden in southern Yemen was reported by a nearby vessel, British security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday.The ship, located approximately 57 nautical miles southwest of Aden, was hailed by an entity declaring itself to be the "Yemeni Navy" and ordered to alter course, Ambrey said.Vessels in the vicinity reported a loud bang and a large plume of smoke, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said.Houthi militants in Yemen have launched drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea…

05 Mar 2024

Ukraine Says it Sunk a Russian Patrol Ship Near Crimea

(Photo: Ukraine Defense)

Ukrainian sea drones hit and sank a Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship off occupied Crimea in an overnight attack, the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday.Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency said a special unit called Group 13 had fired Magura V5 maritime drones at the Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait, which connects the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea.It said on the Telegram messaging app that the vessel had sustained damage to the stern, starboard and port sides, at an estimated cost of $65 million."Right now this ship is on the seabed as a result of fire damage by unmanned boats…

05 Mar 2024

Ukrainian Sea Drones Damage Russian Black Sea Fleet Patrol Ship Near Crimea

© Peter Cripps / Adobe Stock

Ukrainian sea drones damaged a Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship off occupied Crimea, Ukrainian military intelligence said on Tuesday.The intelligence agency said on Telegram messaging app that its special unit Group 13 attacked the Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergey Kotov near the Kerch Strait."As a result of a strike by Magura V5 maritime drones, the Russian ship Project 22160 Sergey Kotov sustained damage to the stern, starboard and port sides," it said. The message added that the ship was worth about $65 million.Andriy Yermak…

18 Feb 2024

UK-Registered Ship Reported Under Attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait

A UK-registered cargo ship reported being under attack in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen on Sunday, said British maritime security firm Ambrey, while UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported crew abandoning a ship off Yemen after an explosion.Ambrey said on Sunday that a Belize-flagged, UK-registered and Lebanese-operated open hatch general cargo ship had reported being under attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait.The ship was heading north during its journey from Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates to Varna…

26 Jan 2024

Tanker Ablaze After Being Struck by Houthis in the Red Sea

© mino21, peangdao / Adobe Stock

Yemen's Houthi rebels on Friday stepped up attacks on vessels transiting the Red Sea, including a hit on a fuel tanker operated on behalf of trading firm Trafigura that sparked a fire.Trafigura said that the fuel tanker Marlin Luanda, which was operating on its behalf, was struck by a missile as it transited the Red Sea.Firefighting equipment on board is being deployed to suppress and control the fire caused in one cargo tank on the starboard side, the company said in an emailed statement."We remain in contact with the vessel and are monitoring the situation carefully…

26 Dec 2023

UK to Send Navy Ship to Guyana Amid Venezuela Border Dispute

(File photo: LPhot Luke / U.K. Royal Navy)

Britain will deploy a naval ship off Guyana later this month, its ministry of defense said on Sunday, as the South American nation faces a border dispute with neighbor Venezuela over the oil-rich Essequibo region.The deployment follows a visit by a British junior foreign minister to Guyana earlier this month, intended to offer the UK's support for the country, an ally and former British colony.Guyana and Venezuela agreed earlier this month to avoid any use of force and not to escalate tensions in the long-running dispute.Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said in a social media post

19 Dec 2023

Hijacked Ship Off Somalia Fuels Fears Pirates Back in Red Sea Waters

© Fotosasch / Adobe Stock

A merchant ship sailing off Somalia has been hijacked by unknown raiders, Spain's defence ministry said on Tuesday, fuelling fears pirates are returning to the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea waters already plagued by a surge in attacks on shipping.A Spanish warship rushed to check on the Maltese-flagged vessel Ruen on Friday after reports it had been hijacked. It "has been under piracy (control) since the morning of Dec. 14," the ministry said in a statement, in its first confirmation of the ship's fate."The MV Ruen has indeed been hijacked.

27 Jul 2023

Ship Carrying 3,000 Cars Burns off Dutch Coast, One Dead

Credit: Dutch Coast Guard

A fire blazed on a cargo ship off the Dutch coast with nearly 3,000 vehicles on board on Wednesday, killing one member of the crew and injuring several others, the coastguard said.Several crew members were forced to jump overboard after the fire began on Tuesday night on the 199-metre (655-foot) Panama-registered Fremantle Highway as it was en route from Germany to Egypt.The Indian Embassy in the Netherlands said in a social media post the fire had "resulted in the death of an Indian seafarer and injuries to the crew", and that it was in touch with family of the deceased.

27 Jun 2023

Passenger with Stroke Symptoms Medevaced from Cruise Ship Off San Diego

A Coast Guard helicopter aircrew medically evacuated a 57-year-old woman from the cruise ship Carnival Radiance approximately 35 miles southwest of Point Loma, Saturday. Carnival Radiance crewmembers contacted Coast Guard Sector San Diego Joint Harbor Operations Center watchstanders at approximately 4:30 p.m. requesting assistance for a passenger displaying stroke symptoms.Watchstanders launched a Coast Guard Sector San Diego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew with a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Special Tactics and Rescue (STAR) Team paramedic aboard to assist.Once on the scene, the helicopter crew lowered the rescue swimmer, recovered the patient and transported her to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. The patient was reported to be in stable condition.

22 Feb 2023

Belgium on High Alert as Russian 'Spy Ship' Detected in North Sea

©Sebastian/AdobeStock

Belgium said it is investigating the presence of a Russian "spy ship" in the North Sea, a day after its neighbor the Netherlands reported that Russia was targeting North Sea infrastructure.The ship was detected in the Belgian North Sea around mid-November last year, Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Justice and North Sea minister, said in a statement headlined "Russian spy ship off our coast in November".While the presence of Russian ships in the North Sea is not forbidden, Belgium said it was monitoring the situation closely…

03 Feb 2023

Italy: Eight Migrants Found Dead, Two missing on Ship off Lampedusa Coast

©Carlo Toffolo/AdobeStock

Eight migrants were found dead, and around 40 were rescued by the Italian coast guard overnight on a ship off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, Italian media reported on Friday. The rescuers took the survivors to the main port on Lampedusa, which lies to the south of Sicily, news agency ANSA said. Italian authorities escorted another three stricken vessels carrying 156 people to Lampedusa, one of the main entry points for people trying to reach Europe. Italy is facing a surge in arrivals from North Africa.

29 Jan 2023

Spanish Police Seize Cocaine Worth $114 Million from Cattle Ship

Spanish police seized 4.5 tonnes of cocaine with an estimated street value of 105 million euros ($114 million) after raiding a cattle ship off the Canary Islands earlier this week, a statement said on Saturday.The ship had stopped at ports in about a dozen countries before Tuesday's raid, and police said drug smugglers had started using livestock ships because it was more difficult for police to trace their illicit cargo."International organisations are reinventing themselves to transport drugs from Latin America to Europe, using livestock to make the control and localisation more difficult," the Spanish police statement said.Police arrested 28 crew members on the Togo-flagged Orion V, which had been trailed from Colombia in an operation by Spanish authorities, the U.S.

19 Jan 2023

US Monitoring Russian 'Intelligence Gathering Ship' Near Hawaii

(Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

The United States in recent weeks has been tracking what is believed to be a Russian military spy ship off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands.The U.S. Coast Guard said in an update on Thursday that it has been keeping tabs on the vessel, a suspected "intelligence gathering ship", for several weeks. Video footage released by the agency showed the ship in waters off the Hawaiian coast on January 11.The ship has been identified as the Kareliya (SSV-535), a Vishnya-class intelligence ship used by the Russian Navy for signals intelligence gathering.

30 Sep 2022

At Least 12 Sailors Die of Suspected Food Poisoning on Ship off Vietnam

At least 12 sailors on a Chinese-flagged cargo ship have died of suspected food poisoning off Vietnam's southern coast, a government official said on Friday.After receiving distress calls from the ship's captain, authorities in the island district of Con Dao deployed helicopters to bring the victims and nine other sailors to a hospital onshore, according to Huynh Trung Son, a local government official."The survivors are in critical condition and our medical staff are trying to save them," Son said via telephone."We haven't been able to identify the nationality of the sailors, but they are likely Chinese," he added.The Wu Zhou 8 ship was en route from Thailand to China, he said, adding that it was not immediately clear what the ship was transporting.The ship was built in 2013 with a carryin

05 Jul 2022

Zelenskiy Says Ukraine is in Talks with Turkey, UN on Grain Exports

© Elena / Adobe Stock

Ukraine is holding talks with Turkey and the United Nations to secure guarantees for grain exports from Ukrainian ports, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday."Talks are in fact going on now with Turkey and the U.N. (and) our representatives who are responsible for the security of the grain that leaves our ports," Zelenskiy told a news conference alongside Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson."This is a very important thing that someone guarantees the security of ships for this or that country - apart from Russia, which we do not trust.

12 Nov 2021

UAE, Bahrain, Israel and US Conduct First Joint Naval Drill

(Photo: William Phillips / U.S. Navy)

Forces from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Israel and the United States Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) began a multilateral maritime security operations exercise in the Red Sea on Wednesday, NAVCENT said on Thursday.This is the first publicly acknowledged naval exercise between the United States, Israel and the two Gulf countries.An Israeli naval officer, briefing reporters in Israel on the drill, said the start of such military cooperation under U.S. auspices could…

20 Aug 2021

Pirates Attack Cargo Ship off Somalia

(Photo: EU NAVFOR)

On Friday, August 13, EU NAVFOR ATALANTA Joint Operation Centre received an alert according to which the Turkish-flagged cargo vessel Anatolia (IMO 9005869) was under attack by a skiff with four or five armed persons on board.Reportedly, the skiff attempted to approach the vessel and opened fire with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades (RPG). One of these RPG caused damage in the vicinity of the bridge. After almost two hours of exchange of fire between the assailants and the privately contracted armed security personnel on board…

19 Jul 2021

Covid-19 on S. Korea's Anti-piracy Ship Off Africa: Over 80% of Crew Test Positive

File Photo: The South Korean destroyer Wang Geon (DDH 978) arrives at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, May 20, 2014 (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Diana Quinlan/Released)

South Korea's military has recorded in biggest cluster of COVID-19 infections to date, with more than 80% of personnel aboard a destroyer on anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden testing positive.While the 247 cases are not directly linked to new domestic infections, with the destroyer having left South Korea to start its mission in February, the surge comes as the country battles its worst-ever outbreak of COVID-19 cases at home, with another 1,252 new infections reported for…

03 Jun 2021

Singapore Authorities Investigate Stricken Cargo Ship off Sri Lanka

(Photo: Sri Lanka Air Force)

Singapore authorities said that they have started their own investigation into a stricken cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals that caught fire off Sri Lanka's west coast.The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid along with other chemicals and cosmetics, was anchored off Sri Lanka's west coast when a fire erupted onboard after an explosion on May 20.Tonnes of plastic pellets have fouled the country's rich fishing waters in one of its worst-ever marine disasters.Singapore's Marine and Port Authority said it understood that the sh

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