The Russian Navy responded quickly after intercepting a distress message from a Panama-registered container ship off West Africa. The boat was then the subject of an attempted attack by pirates.
“On October 26, the crew of Russia’s large anti-submarine ship,“ Vice-Admiral Kulakov, ”prevented pirates from capturing a civilian vessel in the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean. At around 1 pm, the Russian vessel received a distress signal from the container ship “Lucia” flying the Panamanian flag from the Republic of Togo to the Republic of Cameroon. There were reports of an attempted capture of a ship by unknown gunmen on a boat. The crew of the container ship after sending a distress signal, in accordance with the instructions, took refuge in the engine room, ”said the country of Vladimir Putin.
Indeed, let the Russian officials know, the large anti-submarine ship “Vice-admiral Koulakov“, the medium tanker “Akademik Pachin” from the detachment of ships of the Northern Fleet and rescue tug “Altai” operations for at least three weeks in the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean where the piracy was thwarted.
“From the Russian ship, the Ka-27PS helicopter with a Marine Corps unit was immediately lifted up and headed for the incident area. As the military helicopter approached, the pirates left the ship, boarded a speedboat and headed at full speed for the coast. The helicopter flew over the ship. Later, an anti-terrorist group boarded the container ship, freed the crew and proceeded to inspect the ship, “said Russian Mindef.