Danish Warship Rescues Somali Pirates Lost at Sea in Aden Bay

A Danish warship, the Absalon, rescued seven alleged Somali pirates before sinking their vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

The Absalon responded yesterday to a distress signal and found the men in the boat, which also contained weapons used in pirate attacks, the Royal Danish Navy said today on its Web site.

“Under international law, ships are obligated to help people who are distressed at sea,” the navy said. “Because the people on board couldn’t be directly connected with a criminal act, they were treated only as distressed.”

Pirates have attacked more than 120 vessels so far this year off Somalia’s coast and in the Gulf of Aden on the way to and from the Suez Canal, a route used by 20,000 ships a year carrying a tenth of the world’s trade. The International Maritime Bureau has advised all vessels to stay at least 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the Somali coast.

“Because of the weather in the area, it wasn’t possible to tow the distressed vessel,” the navy said. “For the safety of sea transport in the area, the vessel was therefore destroyed.”

The alleged pirate vessel had been adrift in Yemen waters, and the crew has now been turned over to Yemeni authorities, the navy said. The Absalon’s crew confiscated the weapons found on board.

The weapons included anti-tank rockets and machine guns, according to broadcaster TV2. The pirates had been adrift at sea for seven days, the last three days without food or water, TV2 said.

The Absalon, which the Danish navy deployed off the coast of the Horn of Africa in September, has a crew of 160.