EU NAVFOR, Italian Navy Rescue Crew of Pirated Vessel
On the morning of March 9, marine authorities received a distress call from the MV Rak Afrikana stating that they were taking on large amounts of water due to what was described as a “hole in the hull.” The vessel had been released from pirate control only hours earlier. The EU NAVFOR warship SPS Canarias was immediately sent to assist the stricken vessel and was later joined by the Italian warship ITS Zeffiro which arrived first and carried out the rescue operation. The master of the vessel stated that the ship would probably sink in about 5 hours.
Merchant Industry Meets on Piracy Threat
On 14 October 2010, EU NAVFOR Operational Headquarters (Northwood, UK) welcomed maritime industry representatives to provide them with an update on the current piracy threat in the Horn of Africa. A variety of topics were covered throughout the meeting, but of particular note were the possible ways to improve the military support to merchant vessels and the challenges for masters of vessels transiting the area. “The pirates’ business model has not evolved: they simply look for easy targets, that is to say low freeboard and slow vessels.
