Gulf of Aden, Yemen – approx 90NM SW of Al Mukalla: Attempted Piracy – October 2014
Published 10 years ago, updated 5 years ago
15.10.2014:
1510 UTC: Posn: 13:33N – 050:27E
Approx 90NM SW of Al Mukalla, Yemen,, Gulf of Aden.
A motor yacht reported a suspicious approach by a skiff to within 500 meters.
Weapons and ladders were reportedly sighted.
Armed embarked security team fired warning shots. Skiff dropped back to 2 nm but continued to follow the vessel before departing the area.
(NATO Shipping Centre)
Related to the following Cruising Resources: Piracy & Security
Your headline “Attempted Piracy” is actually inaccurate and misleading. It’s more appropriately called “Suspicious Vessel” or “Suspicious Approach”. These reports are somewhat common nowadays as all ships in the area are quite vigilant and report every sighting.
A half a kilometre is hard to identify weapons and ladders so it could be anything, commonly fishermen looking to trade. In any case, the point is, escalating the headline creates unnecessary alarm and just “sensationalizes” what is actually happening.
There hasn’t been any successful piracy in this area for a few years now and very little “suspicious” sightings given the vast numbers of ships in the area. And even less actual attempts. So, please, let’s call it like it is.
Cheers,
Roger Hill
sv Equanimity