Ankara, February 22: A Turkish navy ship on an international mission to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden has prevented an attack on a Japanese merchant vessel off the coast of Somalia.
According to a report published by Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency, the frigate TCG Gemlik intercepted and seized a boat off the coast of Somalia on Saturday in an operation that also involved a helicopter and navy commandos. Seven pirates were captured as they were about to launch an attack on the Panama-flagged M/V APL Finland.
The Turkish frigate TCG Gemlik set sail from Turkey’s Aksaz naval base — situated on the southeast coast of the Aegean Sea in Marmaris — to Somalia on February 1 as part of a UN-led force to prevent pirates from hijacking foreign ships off the coast of Somalia.
The TCG Gemlik replaced the TCG Gokova, which had been in the Gulf of Aden since September 2009. The TCG Gemlik is the fifth Turkish frigate to be deployed to the region since February last year. The others were the TCG Giresun, the TCG Gaziantep, the TCG Gediz, and the TCG Gokova.
The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels going from Asia to Europe and the Americas every year.
However, attacks by heavily-armed Somali pirates in speedboats have prompted some of the world’s biggest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa, causing a hike in shipping costs.
The waters off the coast of Somalia remain dangerous due to piracy, despite the presence of foreign navies on patrol.
——–Agencies