24.09.2009
Somalian pirates attacked Russian tanker Prisco Alexandra with the crew of 19 Russians on Sept 19, said Maritime Bulletin on Wednesday referring to letter of the ship's captain.
Pirates fired the vessel and approached it aboard on high speed motorboats. They tried to get aboard but did not managed because of the tanker was maneuvering in high speed. Naval ships patrolling the region responded to distress call and dispersed pirates.
Tanker
Prisco Alexandra was heading for Egypt. The vessel belongs to
Primorsk shipping corporation and sails under Cyprus flag. It was constructed in 2008, its deadweight is 50974 t.
According to International Maritime Bureau, the world's number of pirate attacks since January till June, 2009 is 240 – that is twice as many as during the first half of the last year. 31 ships were captured, 561 men were hold hostages. More than half of attacks happened in the Gulf of Aden and near Somali east coast, the state steeped in civil war and struggle with islamic extremists.
Source: RusNavy.com, photo: tanker Prisco Alexandra (home.hetnet.nl/~h2nk/)
