On Wednesday, NATO’s counter piracy flag ship, Italian Ship Andrea Doria, rescued the crew of M/V Pacific Express, 180 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya. Another cargo ship, Pacific Express had reported being under pirate attack on Tuesday.
After evaluating the situation, the NATO warship assessed that pirates were no longer on board. As heavy smoke was coming out of the M/V, ITS Andrea Doria decided to send a boarding team to evacuate the crew and rescued all 26 crewmembers (25 Filipinos and 1 Ukrainian) who had locked themselves inside the safety zone of the merchant ship.
According to the crew, the fire was the result of the pirates’ attempts to force them out of their confinement.
Click here for the full report with photos of the burning vessel.
