Pirates hit Spanish fishing vessel with rocket-propelled grenade; fire breaks out, no one hurt

Pirates hit Spanish fishing ship with RPG

NAIROBI, Kenya — Private security guards aboard a Spanish fishing trawler fought a gunbattle with Somali pirates on the Indian Ocean Thursday, as confrontations between mariners and brigands off the coast of Africa become more violent.

The pirates hit the Albacan with a rocket-propelled grenade, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished, officials said. None of the 33 crew members or three guards was hurt. Three private guards aboard the Albacan fired back at the pirates, a ship’s owners association said. The pirates fled.

The high-seas firefight underscores what maritime officials say is a deepening trend on the seas off East Africa: increasingly violent attacks from pirates desperate for the millions of dollars in ransom that are routinely paid for hijacked ships. Maritime officials say pirates are ratcheting up the violence of their attacks as ships and crews become better at fending them off. Only seven ships were fired on worldwide in 2004, but 114 ships were fired on last year off the Somali coast alone, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

The Albacan was fishing between Kenya and the island nation of Seychelles when two skiffs approached carrying pirates brandishing weapons, the EU Naval Force said.

“The crew took refuge inside the ship while the security team confronted the pirates,” the ship owners association Cepesca said in a statement from Spain. “There was an exchange of gunfire and the pirates also fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the vessel before fleeing.”

The EU Naval Force said the guards fired above the heads of the pirates, implying that no pirates were hurt.

Some ships have begun carrying armed guards in hopes of deterring high-seas assaults. Ship owners are also investing in physical defenses like stringing razor wire and adding fire hoses that can hit attackers with streams of high-pressure water. Some ships are even having electric fence-style systems installed.

Rising ransoms may also be a factor in the increasing violence of attacks. Piracy expert Roger Middleton of the British think tank Chatham House said that last year the average ransom was around $2 million, giving the pirates a total haul of around $100 million for 2009. This year, two paid ransoms were much higher, coming in at around $3 million and $7 million, he said.

Somali pirates are currently holding six hijacked ships and 132 sailors, including a British couple kidnapped off their private sailboat last year. Somalia’s parliament on Thursday called for the unconditional release of the couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler.

The parliament urged elders, clerics and women’s groups to press for their release on grounds of their advanced age and poor health. A statement said the U.K. government “has been very kind to our large diaspora community living in the United Kingdom and it’s upon us to reciprocate their benevolence” by working for the Chandlers’ release.