Spanish ship escapes Somali pirates after firefight

Mar 4, 2010, 12:52 GMT

London/Nairobi - Somali pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a Spanish fishing vessel, which responded with gunfire, during a hijack attempt in the Indian Ocean, European Union naval forces said Thursday.

None of the crew of the Cadiz-registered Albacan were injured in the attack, which came as calm seas make it easier for pirates to operate in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

EU NAVFOR Somalia, the EU's anti-piracy mission in the region, said two pirate skiffs approached the Albacan as it fished halfway between the Seychelles and the Kenyan coast.

'One of the skiffs ... fired a rocket-propelled grenade that exploded on the deck of the fishing vessel,' EU NAVFOR Somalia said in a statement on its website. 'The explosion caused a small fire that has now been extinguished.'

Private security guards on board the Albacan shot over the heads of the pirates, forcing them to flee.

Ship owners have turned to private guards, barbed wire and water cannons to fend off the pirates that swarm Somalia's coastal waters looking for multimillion-dollar ransoms.

More attacks are expected in the coming months due to calmer weather.

On Monday Saudi tanker Al Nisr Al Saudi and its crew of 14 was seized. Six ships and over 100 sailors are currently in the hands of pirates.

Piracy is rife off the Horn of Africa nation, which has not had a functioning central government since 1991.

Young men take to the seas despite the presence of international warships, which were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden in 2008 to combat a rise in piracy.

The pirates have expanded their operations further out into the Indian Ocean to avoid the patrols.