A piracy alert has been raised by the Maritime Security Centre.

Date of alert   : 20/11/2009 18:11:34

Alert type      : Attempted Attack

Location        : Somali Basin

Latitude        : 01 05S

Longitude       : 062 28E

---WARNING WARNING WARNING---

At 1530 UTC a merchant vessel was under attack by 3 skiffs in position 0105S - 06228E. 

The vessel now is safe.

It is recommended that all vessels not making scheduled calls to ports in Somalia, Kenya or Tanzania keep as far from the Somali coast as possible. MSCHOA now advise that vessels should consider maintaining a distance of more than 600 nautical miles from the coastline and when routing north/south consider keeping East of 60E Longitude until East of the Seychelles.

It is also recommended that all vessels proceeding to and from ports in South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia should consider routing South of 10S and East of 60E, avoiding the area between the Somali Coast and North and West of the Seychelles.

All vessels transiting the area and not able to keep 600 nm off the Somali coast are advised not to approach closer than 100 nm from the position given in this report and maintain maximum CPA with any ship acting suspiciously.

While navigating in the region vessels are urged to operate at a heightened state of readiness, maintaining strict 24 hour anti-piracy visual and radar watches, actively implement recommended anti-piracy measures and regularly report their position/course/speed to UKMTO.

Merchant vessels are requested to report any suspicious activity to UKMTO Dubai (+97 1505523215 – ukmto@eim.ae) or IMB PRC (+60 320310014 – imbkl@icc-ccs.org / piracy@icc-ccs.org). Reports can also be relayed to MSCHOA (opscentre@mschoa.org).