According to the news report it was the third Spanish fishing trawler escaped an attack by pirates off the coast of Somalia this week. The captain of the ship said that this is the third incident involving a Spanish boat in the region in the past week. It is informed that the tuna fish trawler Intertuna II, based in Spain’s northern Basque Country, was about 440 nautical miles off the Somali coast when crew members spotted a small boat carrying pirates about 11 miles away, the captain told Basque public radio.
The captain also said that the crew immediately put in place its emergency procedures and were able to escape the pirates. The Campo Libre Alai escaped an attack Monday and the Alakrana avoided capture four days earlier. Both trawlers are also based in the Basque Country.
Spain is taking part in Atalante, the European Union’s anti-piracy mission in the region, which began operations in December in an effort to stop attacks in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest trade routes.
