EUNAVFOR informed that on 23rd February, the Motor Tanker Leopard Sun was attacked by two skiffs 160 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia. The Singapore flagged chemical tanker was heading from Sohar, to Cape Town, South Africa when the incident happened.
The skiffs approached the MT Leopard Sun from the stern and fired upon the ship, after which the on-board Private Armed Security Team returned fire with warning shots. The incident lasted approximately 20 minutes before the skiffs eventually turned away. The vessel and crew are now safe.
EUNAVFOR MSCHOA issued navigation warnings and alerts to inform both mariners and merchant vessels in the High Risk Area. Merchant vessels near the location of the incident, have been warned directly of the existence of a potential Pirate Action Group (PAG).
EUNAVFOR and CMF together with military partners will cooperate to further assess the incident. This attack, which is likely to be piracy related, was the first such incident since the attack on the MV EVER DYNAMIC in November 2017.
