Armed pirates attacked a British-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden on May 17, 2020 but were repulsed said the ship’s manager Stolt Tankers.

The pirates approached the Stolt Apal in two speedboats some 75 nautical miles off Yemen. This is one of the most important trade routes for oil heading from the Middle East to Europe.

“After multiple warning shots were fired by the armed guard team aboard Stolt Apal, the skiffs opened fire on the ship. The armed guard team returned fire, disabling one skiff and ending the pursuit” a company spokesman said via Reuters. “A coalition warship (also) responded and Stolt Apal has resumed her voyage”.

The vessel had been sailing through a transit corridor patrolled by international naval forces due to the high risk of attack said maritime security sources.

The ship’s bridge had sustained minor damage from bullets but that there were no injuries. None of the ship’s cargo was damaged.

Stolt Tankers is a subsidiary of Norwegian listed Stolt-Nielsen.

Merchant ships have been attacked in recent years in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab waterway by armed gangs as well as groups such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

A Saudi-led military coalition has, in the past, accused Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement of trying to attack vessels off the coast of Yemen with unmanned boats laden with explosives.

It was the ninth reported incident in the Gulf of Aden this year said Dryad Global, the marine security firm.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations naval authority wrote on his website that it advises vessels in the area “to exercise extreme caution”.

This article was edited using the data from the aljazeera.com, jpost.com, foxnews.com, and english.alarabiya.net.

Source of the photo: english.alarabiya.net