hypocritexposer
Well-known member
For the second time in a week, a Canadian warship has helped fend off a potential attack from pirates off the coast of Somalia.
The HMCS Winnipeg — which is taking part in the NATO-led counter-piracy mission known as Operation Allied Protector — and a Spanish ship responded Friday night after a civilian vessel sent out a distress call following an apparent pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden.
The Canadian ship launched its helicopter, which located the suspected pirates, the ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Craig Baines, told CTV Saturday.
A boarding team was then dispatched to conduct a weapons search of a skiff and a larger ship.
“As we approached the vessel, it was the dark of night, and they were actually throwing items overboard, which we believe were possibly the weapons used in the attack,” Baines told CTV.
On April 4, the HMCS Winnipeg thwarted another attempted pirate attack when it spotted three pirate skiffs closing in on an Indian merchant vessel, the Pacific Opal, in the Gulf of Aden.
The warship was escorting another vessel nearby when the Pacific Opal radioed for help.
Baines immediately ordered the ship’s Sea King helicopter to investigate. The helicopter flew between the threatened vessel and the pirates to scare them away.
The helicopter crew hung a two-foot-by-three-foot red stop sign from the side of the aircraft that says "Stop" in Somali.
“We hung it right beside (the chopper’s) C-6 machine gun and they (got) the idea that we don’t like what they’re doing,” Baines told the Victoria Times Colonist last Sunday.
It was enough to make the skiffs pull back, but the helicopter stayed with the vessel until the pirates were no longer a threat.
http://www.canada.com/news/world/Canadian+warship+thwarts+pirates+again/1488473/story.html