Germany thanks UK for freeing ship, panic room worked against pirates

BRITISH naval rescuers deployed a ship and two aircraft to free the German-owned 12,700-ton multi-purpose Beluga Fortune from Somali pirates after the crew cut the power and locked themselves into an panic room, reported The Associated Press.

None of the 16 crew members aboard the 667-TEU capacity Beluga Fortune, seized 1,930 kilometres east of Mombasa, was harmed, said Beluga-Reederei spokeswoman Verena Beckhusen.


No ransom was paid and the Antigua-flagged vessel resumed its voyage to South Africa. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle thanked the Royal Navy, and called the case a "good example for international cooperation in the fight against piracy."


Beluga-Reederei director Nils Stolberg said a British frigate, a surveillance plane and a helicopter were involved in freeing the vessel. By the time they boarded, the pirates had departed.


Mr Stolberg credited preparation for the success of the operation. "They sent out an emergency call, barricaded themselves in a special security room, shut off the fuel supply and the bridge and informed the military. This way the pirates could not bring the ship under their control or seize the crew for ransom."


Seafarers unions have tended to prefer muster points, places to surrender to armed boarders, and oppose panic rooms or "citadels" where they would sit out an attack behind locked doors for fear of attackers bringing high-explosives to open the doors.


While the Bremen-based company worked together with the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin to inform the German, Russian and Filipino family members of the crew, the German military and the anti-pirate mission evaluated the situation on the ground by deploying ships and a surveillance plane.