Somali pirates . chasing somali pirates

this is what piracy looks like in the 21st century you won't find any romantic swashbucklers here these are desperate men they're armed and dangerous ready to attack just about any commercial vessel they can find the bigger the better they hijack freighters like these hold the crews hostage and demand huge ransoms the problem runs rampant from the Gulf of Aden south along the coast of East Africa and far out into the Indian Ocean that's where pirates from war-torn Somalia browse the sea in small boats hoping to hit it very big an international Armada is intent on stopping them one of those ships is the Libeccio an italian navy frigate part of a ten ship European Union Task Force called operation Atalanta I meet the Libeccio in the Tanzanian capital and port city of Dar es Salaam it's the departure point for a two-week journey up the coast of Africa for an extended look at the e use efforts to stop piracy so we've just left the dock in Dar es Salaam and the mission has already begun security is very tight even here in the harbor but this is we get out past the headlands here we are gonna be out in the open ocean and on patrol as soon as the ship leaves the dock sentries go on high alert keeping watch for anything that could pose a threat terrorism is a risk even in the harbor passing by cargo ships lined up to the horizon it's easy to see why pirates are so active in this part of the world it is a target-rich environment as we head out to see the Labette SEOs commanding officer 39 year old Antonio Gally Yuto reminds the crew of its prime directive you karate em no Imperato something he later repeats for me to stop this raft and prevent any act of piracy and robbery of see between the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean what we call the Somali Basin it's a critical mission giving the river of Commerce flowing through this region nearly 20% of all trade in and out of Europe each morning begins with assembly mojo naughty bozo the Libeccio and her crew of 225 men and women are nearing the end of a four month deployment during this time they've escorted ships carrying food aid to Somalia gathered intelligence information about pirate activities and they patrolled the Seas trying to ensure the safety of seafarers of all sorts from big merchant vessels to small fishing boats called dowse today going on but I gonna do the combat operations center or COC is the heart of the ship I sit in on one of the frequent briefings where the officers give commander galley you toe updates on everything I've a nice Hideo push it down blooded us gonna go out a die from ship supplies and the weather forecast - task force activity and pirate action in the area a lot of this is classified not much to report today that's it wanna Toronto but that will change because Somali pirates have been expanding their operations they used to attack the the merchant vessel transiting very close to the Somali coast line now they go and breach and attack the merchant vessels and the fishing vessels down to the area in front of Kenya and Tanzania and more south to do that they have changed their tactics not only do they use small high-powered boats to chase down and clamber onboard large container ships but now they also launch attacks from so-called mother vessels often a ship they've hijacked to use as a supply base on the high seas the pirate attack groups are composed by a big vessel and some small and fast boats they can stay for about three or four weeks at sea trying to intercept the traffic lanes and get some merchant vessel to try to prevent attacks the Lavezzi owes two helicopters fly reconnaissance and surveillance missions every day we go where the ship cannot go so we have the ice partnership the information gathered during these flights is critical to the mission so you have to report as much as you can see but you have to sure about what you are seeing castle is important not to make mistakes one of the choppers nicknamed Muttley is equipped with a high-powered infrared camera I go for a flight with lieutenants Ricardo Guatemala and Dario had a yachty the world some shipping companies have started to take their own steps to stop the pirates or to find their ships with defenses like water cannons and barbed wire to keep the Pirates from climbing on board they're also building armored safe rooms called Citadel's where the crew can lock themselves in and remain in control of their ship but looking down at these gigantic vessels the situation still seems a bit unreal the pilots say the Pirates have gotten bolder instead of running they've started trying to scare off the military forces in the area sorry on your flyover suspect pirate ship before you were fired on with an RPG right what happened I guess they just were cool you know give us the word you know to let it go do you think they're taking advantage of the rules we know you're not going to fire back when you get a nice expensive look the point is that you have this postage aboard your first priority is to take the advantages discourage book okay shooting back at the Pirates could lead to hostages getting killed so Dario and Ricardo would have to hold their fire dangerous flights are nothing new for them both have flown combat missions in Afghanistan but they say it's still always a relief to locate their floating landing pad safely home once again after more than 200 hours of flight during this four-month operation despite bursts of action during the long hours in between life at sea can get monotonous but the crew of the Libeccio does its best to maintain that Italian dolce vita degenerate that means pasta catching soccer games on satellite TV even an espresso and gelato bar that's open almost 24 hours a day but as we travel up the African coastline the pace of operations aboard the Libeccio will intensify so this is one of the main pieces of navigational equipment here on the Libeccio unfortunately I cannot bring the camera in here to show you exactly what I'm looking at because a lot of it is classified but what I can say is that we're just now crossing from Kenyan waters really into Somali waters later we'll be getting closer to shore where it will be easier to send the helicopters out to fly over pirate camps by monitoring activity on land commander Galileo is trying to predict when and where pirate groups might try to attack and try to stop them before they even leave Shore we just send our le copter and let them know that we are here if they realize that the Navy ship is close to their target while they think it twice before they they attack at 1/3 water relative height then just as the Libeccio shares all its Intel with the entire task force fleet this morning's briefing alert the Libeccio to the actions of the other ships in the flotilla our good we're logged off disrupting pirate activities which are going on all around us all the time it's a chess match the piece is always in motion a dangerous game especially for those working the front lines we always have to stay alert and always watch with camera with eyes until you are not sure that is the the guys are handling fishing maps you have two teams they are handling the weapon we're about ten miles off the Somali coast and off on the horizon you can see two merchant cargo vessels that have been hijacked the helicopter of the Libeccio is on its way back it's done a surveillance mission flown over the two ships all we know right now is that they've been hijacked and that the crews are being held hostage we're hoping to learn more when the chopper returns launch 29 years ago the Libeccio is a warship built for another era it was designed during the height of the Cold War operate as an anti-submarine frigate it's armed to the teeth torpedoes a guided missile launcher and a huge long-range anti-ship cannon today it seems unlikely these weapons will ever be used unifor acids would rarely use their weapons against pirates flying his choppers over those two hijacked ships anchored near shore commander Galileo was simply trying to keep his eye on the situation rescue missions are too risky any time we pass in the vicinity of this scam we have to count them and we have to - what to control them if they are still there or they are involved in any other logistic activity and some of those ships have been there for months for sure we know that that those two vessels are hijacked so they have crew members hijacked on board hostages we know exactly what we can do and what we have to do and we have a clear perception of what we consider a collateral damage and what we have to avoid the goal is to end these standoffs without bloodshed which usually means the ship owners negotiate with the Pirates and pay a ransom which can run into the millions of dollars as of November Somali pirates were holding 22 hijacked ships with people held hostage on board waiting for their ordeals to end with limited opportunities for real action the crew finds ways to stay occupied they take Kombat video games and they drill regularly staying sharp for the real thing the ship's explosive team practices identifying and detonating wayward bomb and the small unit of Italian Marines assigned to the Lebed show works on boarding maneuvers chief petty officer pair Luigi De Rosa is the head of the marine team yep people yep divita we have we're professionals so this is the activity that we do every day there is no fear when we do this action boom yeah they say their motto is a good-natured way to let their adversaries know they're serious knowing siamo view patottie Devoy more pirate than the pirates rounding the Horn of Africa is the closest I've ever come to turbulent Somalia a country without a functioning government for 20 years the chaos there is one reason young Somali men become pirates and take to the seat in small boats despite all the firepower lined up against them they don't know what a peaceful country is peaceful life is so it's very difficult to them to realize what is legal and what is illegal Eagle right this is this is a way of life for them now yeah it's a way right and they don't know any other way of life not far from here the French flagship of the European force reports some suspicious activity possibly a pirate camp getting ready for action it happens just as the Libeccio is taking up its own position in the area the commander of task force ordered us to to go there in the vicinity of this possible pirate camp to monitor the situation and to adopt a covert posture we will be there just waiting for the to come out and to stop them and eventually disrupt them by staying just over the horizon commander Galileo hopes to remain out of sight but he still sends a chopper to gather some Intel about what's called a pirate attack group how many people did you see was there a lot of activity not too much activity on the land but a little bit activity in between the skiffs we saw log a lot of skills moving from one camp to the other camp and another going outside farther away it was enough activity to warrant a rare second flight a night flight in an attempt to find out what's going on while we wait to hear from the helicopter pilots Ricardo and Dario the commander explains why he's so concerned about what he sees here when fisherman goes at sea and prepare their activity they normally use nets and they just put the snacks on on the beach but there's nothing here that you can correlate with fishing activity on the other hand there's nothing that we can necessarily correlate with piracy activities such as weapons or things like that so it it's just something literally simply considered suspicious right needed a closer look and closer group comparing images taking days apart the question is what has happened to a yellow skiff they're calling it skiff number three anything to report Roger still in bed investigating it's disappeared and there's a possibility it's now out to sea on a pirate attack Roger copy now suspect rescue it's just not clear but what's clear to me is that the plan to fly over a suspected pirate camp at night has raised the temperature on board the Libeccio it's challenging sometimes because reality is never black or white the people who were all around here after their return the pilots briefed commander galeota on what they saw and what they didn't yes there were just wasps kiss but we don't find this the next day the bridge jumps to alert a boat has been spotted nearby it's a down towing three small skips could one of them be skiff number three even as suspicions run high the goal is not to raise the tension so what we're trying to do is now is establish calm communications with a bit east out and carry out what we call a friendly approach friendly approach it is assessed to be a friendly approach just because the behavior is not suspect but we don't know who are the people on board that fishing though or whatever small boat is so what we call we call it a friendly approach just because we don't have a non friendly posture so the team you send out first even on a friendly approach is ready for anything yeah definitely it has to be the crew quickly springs into action the Marines head out to the down everyone else monitors the situation from the COC to the weapons control room the assessment is that this is not a pirate group they're just fishermen the Somali crew sailing under a Yemeni flag this yellow skiff is not the missing skiff number three when you see it down with three skiff that's enough to make you need to go check it out that's enough to to go at least and to try to intercept it and as soon as they so our ship which was closing distances with them they stopped their movement understood they invited us on board to make a friendly inspection to talk to them freely kalashnikova they told us that they have weapons on board just to defend themselves just from self it would be normal for anyone here to have some weapons on board to protect themselves yeah especially if they know about the piracy threat after the boarding team does a thorough survey they give the fishing crew some food and water wish them luck and send them on their way but encounters at sea don't always go this smoothly shortly after an attack on a nearby merchant vessel the Libeccio was ordered to check out a large down towing three smaller boats our helo was Haysbert and started to try to establish communication with the crew this Dao telling them to stop the movement when the dow refused to comply the operation quickly became what's called a harassment the LaVette CEO closed in and shadowed the suspect ship overnight eventually the choppers began firing warning shots sending a message we want you to stop and we will stay here until you stop it wasn't until the next morning that the crew of the Dow finally got on the radio and they say we surrend we surrendered when the lab ncos boarding team arrived ten Somali pirates gave up control of the Dow and their hostages 15 Pakistani crew members and the Iranian captain the Somali pirates were put into temporary jail cells a brig that the libecki owes crew built in the helicopter hangar ok still even catching pirates red-handed does not make it easy to prosecute them a special court in Kenya set up to handle pirate cases is completely overwhelmed so in the end the only thing we could do is to release them ashore and that is what we have done is after almost 10 days of detention on board it took them ashore and there's every reason to believe that as soon as they were back on shore these men were figuring out their next pirate mission ultimately a frustrating outcome to a successful operation although this is one of the busiest shipping corridors on the planet it is so vast that it often seems empty a daunting reality for the Libeccio and the other warships here to fight piracy how large is sort of the whole Somali Basin Arabian Sea Gulf of Aden area that this group covers so it's 2 million square nautical mines you can compare it to the entire Mediterranean Sea it's as big as the whole Mediterranean yeah but the area is so big I mean there's rip there's always going to be some opportunity for piracy and the navies can't be everywhere at once yeah definitely you're right this is something they they know this is what we consider the center of gravity the freedom of movement during my time at sea there have been 35 pirate incidents in the area 17 attacks and one successful hijacking as we sail into the port of Djibouti I get ready to disembark after my voyage two weeks of watching this cruise dedication and focus is it exciting it is it has to be it's it's our mission it has to be excited if you're not excited means that you don't like your foot you do the Libeccio and her crew will soon end their four-month tour of duty along the east african coast and as they eagerly prepare to head home they say they do so with a sense of satisfaction is it hard for them to be away for so long even on a mission that they feel is important and valuable there's always a struggle within you about your sacrifices the fact that you're far away from home from your relatives and things like that as a sort of mixed emotions so of course we are proud that we have accomplished our missions and this is something that's belongs to us I think we we can go back home much more rich much more proud but at the same time well we want to go back home

Channel: KAAY HD

Views: 4,626,539

Rating: 4.6056414 out of 5

Keywords: Piracy In Somalia (Literature Subject), Somalia (Country), Piracy (Film Subject), War (Quotation Subject), Somali People (Ethnicity), Somali Language (Human Language), Somaliland (Country), somali pirates

Id: Jae_YqzcC3o

Length: 24min 26sec (1466 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 29 2015