A quick email report from one of our security teams:
"An incident occurred this evening at 1730 hrs local time 20 miles from pointA. A dhow was picked up on radar at eight miles and we altered course to avoid,the dhow altered to intercept I informed ukmto and we managed to avoid,30 minutes later a second dhow was picked up coming from the same general direction as the first(southerly)we altered course and again the dhow altered to intercept. At this stage I called a nearby combined forces warship and informed him of the situation,about ten minutes later another target appeared directly on our new courseat 8 miles,we altered course again to pass between and both altered course to intercept,I reappraised the military asset of the situation, whilst doing so the second target ,now at six miles launched two skiffs at us it was just getting dark and we could not yet see the skiffs,I was just about to put the crew into standby position when a navy helicopter came up on channel 16. I informed him of our situation and he told me he was ten minutes from our location.within two minutes the two skiffs and the two dhows turned away and switched on their nav lights and headed out of the irtc. The helicopter investigated but could not see any weapons we spoke again and he said he would remain with me for the next hour to ensure they did not follow and to clear the way ahead.when he left I gave him our appreciation."
There has been no reporting by the UKMTO for about a week now, and with active teams on the water, we know for a fact that piracy incidents are still going on daily.
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