Yemen, Southern Red Sea, Hanish Islands: Yacht shot at from ashore – February 2016
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Last Update - April 27, 2016
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February 4, 2016
The incident with Sailing Yacht “Milashka”, at Island Jazirat al Hanish al Kabir, near the Bab al Mandeb Strait, Southern Red Sea.
After a strong gale and violent storm in the south of the Red Sea, we decided to find shelter for our yacht near the island Jazirat al Hanish al Kabir, for urgent repair of the damaged sails and rigging.
However, on the western side of the island (13° 42’7.18″N 42° 42’13.82″E) our yacht came under fire from a camouflaged position in the abandoned settlement on the shore. It was shooting to kill. No warning shots, the first bullet hit the hull of the yacht. We miraculously escaped death. Only the yacht was damaged.
Appropriate institutions (UKMTO, CMF) were immediately informed.
We headed to port Djibouti for repairs and reporting.
From Vladimir Melnik (crew member)
After the incident, S/V Milashka made a stop on Socotra Island for one week – http://socotra.info/cruisers-on-socotra.html
Our thanks to Denis Romanov, of Socotra island (www.socotra.info) for passing on news of this incident.
The Hanish Islands have been used by the Somali pirates since 2006 and it's probable that it is still be used by the remnants if only to attack the fishing boats in the area but a yacht would still be very attractive. Socotra was also used by them in the past.
We too were shot at by 50 calibers mounted on the back of a truck at Hanish al Kubra. The truck followed us up the beach as we were looking for a place to anchor and hide from 50-knot winds and seas. One round passed through a towel we had hanging from our lifelines. They were certainly trying to hit us and gave no warning shots. S/V Trim