Fierce fighting between pirates and government forces has seen a shipping minister captured, quickly released and his bodyguards killed in Somalia.
Owners of ships being held with hundreds of crew members off a notorious Puntland pirate lair will be on high alert after the ugly clashes in several towns on Monday.
Said Mohamad Rage, minister for ports and marine transport in the semi-autonomous region, was taken hostage by pirates after his convoy came under attack on three occasions in the one day, local reports claim.
Rage was with a huge escort of armed guards when they encountered a road blockade outside the town of Garacad where a large number of hijacked ships – including two Greek vessels and a Korean VLCC - are being held. A large gun fight erupted and they were forced to retreat.
Rage’s convoy is reported to have then come under fire in another nearby town with one or two of his bodyguards reportedly killed in the gunfire.
Eventually the minister and his guards surrendered to a pirate group in the town of Sallah but they were swiftly released before Puntland troops reached the town to rescue them, numerous reports indicate.
There will be renewed concern in light of the escalating violence for the welfare of crew onboard at least five ships known to be held off Garacad. TradeWinds recently reported that the 319,400-dwt tanker Samho Dream (built 2002), which was taken on 4 April with 24 crew and was feared being used as a pirate mothership, had returned to waters off the town.
Euroseas’ 72,100-dwt bulker Eleni P (built 1997), snatched in the Somali Basin with 23 crew on 12 May, is also sitting off the town. So too is the 47,200-dwt Greek bulker VOC Daisy (built 1998) which was taken in the Gulf of Aden on 21 April with 21 crew.
Wolbern Shipping of Germany’s 13,300-dwt chemical tanker Marida Marguerite (built 2008) is also understood to be off Garacad after capture in the Arabian Sea on 8 May with 22 crew.
The Saudi 5,136-dwt tanker Al Nisr Al Saudi (built 1993), which was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on 1 March with 14 crew and is the longest held of any ships currently under hijack, is also off Garacad.
Red Sea Navigation’s 17,330-dwt multi-purpose vessel Suez (built 1984) is also thought to be a short distance south of Garacad having been seized in the Gulf of Aden on 2 August with 24 crew.
The 4,000-dwt Iceberg 1 (built 1976), taken in the Gulf of Aden on 29 March, was also recently reported to be off Garacad.
Rage has placed himself on a crash course with pirate groups having recently reportedly dispatched naval vessels to pirate strongholds north of Garacad to tackle the scourge. He claimed in late September to be “confident that the new operation against the pirates would reduce their attacks in Somalia waters”.
