Muscat: An Italian bulk carrier was pirated this morning by the suspected Somalian pirates 350 nautical miles south east of Salalah in southern Oman, according to a communiqué emailed by the European Union Naval Force Public Affairs Office.
The 74,500 tonne MV Rosalia D'amato was on its way to Bandar Imam Khomeini (Iran) from Paranagua (Brazil) when it was attacked by a single skiff in the Indian Ocean.
Coalition warships had communications with the vessel and were told: 'pirates onboard stay away'.
The MV Rosalia D'amato has a crew of 21 (six Italians, 15 Filipinos), and was registered with MSC (HOA) and reporting to UKMTO.
"There is no further information about the crew at present," according to the communique.
EU NAVFOR are continuing to monitor the situation.
Meanwhile, EU NAVFOR has released 18 suspected pirates that had been detained by the Finnish warship FNS Pohjanmaa since April 6.
They were released after requests to a number of states, who were considered to have an interest in the case, proved to be unsuccessful. The States either decided not to prosecute or could not provide intent to prosecute within the required timescale.
The suspected pirates were detained after allegedly attacking the Singapore-flagged vessel MV Pacific Opal They were returned to Somalia today morning.
EU NAVFOR Somalia - Operation Atalanta's main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program' (WFP) and vessels of ‘African Union Mission in Somalia' (AMISOM), and to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.
