YEMEN: FISHERMAN KILLED DURING PIRATE CHASE
Dave Shirlaw
Yemen: Fisherman killed during pirate chase
Today, 17:47
A Russian helicopter attack on Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week killed a Yemeni fisherman and three others, security officials said Thursday.
The fishermen were in two boats nearby when the Russian helicopter fired on pirates in three speedboats trying to hijack a Dutch container ship on Tuesday, said two officials from Yemen's Interior Ministry and coast guard.
A preliminary investigation showed the fishermen were hit by fire from the helicopter, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to news media.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had no information on whether fishermen were hit in the operation, which prompted the pirates to abort their attempt to board the Dutch vessel.
The helicopter was dispatched from a Russia warship that was sent to the area in September after Somali pirates hijacked a Ukrainian freighter, the Faina, with a cargo of battle tanks and three Russian crew members.
The Faina was one of 42 ships that pirates seized last year off the Horn of Africa during a surge in piracy driven in part by Somalia's growing poverty and instability. The country has not had a functioning government since 1991 and its lawless coastline is a haven for pirates.
The multimillion dollar ransoms are one of the only ways to make money in the impoverished nation.
An international flotilla including U.S. warships has stopped many attacks, but the area is too vast to keep all ships safe in the vital sea lane that leads to the Suez Canal and is the quickest route from Asia to Europe.
The Dutch government, meanwhile, said Thursday that it will prosecute five suspected pirates captured this month by the Danish navy off the coast of Somalia after reaching an extradition agreement with Denmark.
The ministers of justice from Denmark and the Netherlands agreed on the extradition during a brief meeting on the sidelines of an informal gathering of European justice ministers in Prague, Czech Republic, said Dutch spokesman Wim van der Weegen.
The Dutch prosecutor's office was drawing up specific charges, but the suspects likely would be tried for piracy under international law, he said. It was unclear when the suspected pirates would be handed over.
The Danish navy captured the men in the Gulf of Aden on Jan. 2 after receiving a distress call from an Antilles-registered freighter, which fended off the pirates with signal flares until a Danish ship arrived and sank the attacking vessel.
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