A Liberia-flagged tanker has been attacked near the Yemeni port of Al Mukalla.
TradeWinds understands the vessel was the 8,900-dwt Fair Apollon (built 2009), owned by Greece’s Fairdeal Group Management.
Shots were fired at the ship on Sunday and security personnel responded by firing back. No injuries were reported.
The assailants were approaching the anchored vessel off Mukalla at relatively low speed with two Yemeni-type skiffs, Special Anti Piracy Unit (SAPU) said.
SAPU commandos were on the bridge when they sustained automatic fire from one of the skiffs.
The crew retreated to the citadel immediately and the security guards managed to prevent the attackers from closing on the vessel.
More terrorism than piracy
SAPU noted that Yemeni skiffs are not the norm for Somali pirates and neither is a nighttime attack against a visible group of people on an anchored ship.
Alexandros Theodosios Kontos, chief operating officer of SAPU, said: “We fear last night’s event is more terrorism than Somali piracy-related, yet in such situations one can never be certain who he is facing until it is sometimes too late.
“If our assumption is correct we could expect similar events off Libya, Somalia or in fact from any coastal state terrorist groups can launch their attacks on merchant vessels and retreat to any form of safe refuge with hostages.”
Three more incidents have been reported in Philippine waters in the past couple of weeks, when Abu Sayyaf militants kidnapped 18 seafarers from tugs.
