U.S. Marines Take Control of German Vessel Attacked by Pirates Off Yemen

Source: Bloomberg
By: Alaric Nightingale 09\09\2010

Twenty-four U.S. Marines recaptured a German-owned ship that was seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the U.S. Navy said.

Nine pirates were captured and none of the Marines or crew of the Magellan Star were hurt, the navy said in a statement on its website today.

The raid took place about 85 miles southeast of Mukallah, Yemen, according to Jeremy Olver, a Bahrain-based spokesman for the Combined Maritime Forces, which includes about three dozen ships from at least 10 countries.

The Magellan Star sent a distress call early yesterday and a Turkish frigate attached to the Combined Maritime Forces was first on the scene, the U.S. Navy said. Two other warships arrived later to provide support.

The Marines are from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Maritime Raid Force aboard USS Dubuque.

The Magellan Star, a 133-meter (436-foot) general-cargo ship, was sailing to Vung Tau in Vietnam from Europe, according to AISlive Ltd. ship-tracking data on Bloomberg.

Pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and around Somalia fell to 98 in 2010’s first half from 144 a year earlier as navies strengthened operations in the area, according to the London-based International Maritime Bureau.