Stepped up response to Piracy

The Maritime Security Centre - Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) issued a press release that a French Naval Frigate, the NIVOSE, operating as part of the MSCHOA efforts to thwart piracy, had captured 11 Somali pirates operating from a "mother vessel" in the

Indian Ocean

.  According to the press release:

The arrest took place after the 21,000 tonne

Liberia

flagged MV SAFMARINE ASIA came under sustained small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack from two skiffs that were operating in close company with a mother ship.

The warship scrabbled its helicopter in reaction to a distress call from the stricken container ship and quickly arrived on the scene to deter the hijacking and shadow the mother vessel until the warship arrived.

 

MSCHOA is a coordination center, set up by the European Union as part of a European Security and Defence Policy to combat piracy in the Horn of Africa.