Source: Danish Maritime
A Danish merchant ship that Tuesday was sailing in waters off Somalia felt threatened by another ship that the crew called for help from the international naval forces. A Danish Challenger surveillance aircraft was sent to assist.
“We were making a so-called surface-search, in which we check all the boats we encounter, when we were called up on the radio and sent to what sounded like an ongoing pirate attack on a Danish ship. The ship was only about an hour’s journey from our position,†says Finn, one of the two pilots in the Danish Challenger surveillance aircraft that since the 23rd of September has been stationed in the Seychelles.
The Danish ship felt persecuted by a larger ship which allegedly also had activity with small boats around it.
“We immediately went up in altitude to fly faster and reached out to the ship as soon as possible. When we got visual contact with the ship we got confirmation that everything on board still was as it should be. We agreed with the crew that we needed to explore the area in a large radius around them for suspicious vessels,†said the pilot.
The search gave no further concern.
“I think the crew of the ship was a little relieved when we showed up in the area, although we have no direct ability to intervene with outright attacks. We examined all the skiffs we found in the area and had radio contact with a few tuna fishermen who may have had some activities with small speedboats around their purse seiner while settings their nets, which could perhaps look like o the radar as the start of a pirate attack.â€