Last Thursday, the Greek-owned Malta-registered cargo ship the Centauri was released with all 25 Filipino crew unharmed after it was hijacked along with Hong-Kong-registered the Great Creation off the coast of Somalia two months ago.

Meanwhile, two British security guards on a Singapore-operated chemical tanker, MV Biscaglia, jumped overboard as Somali pirates seized control of their vessel in the Gulf of Aden. The two guards and their Irish colleague were later picked up by a NATO helicopter gunship, which arrived too late to prevent Friday’s hijacking.

French military spokesman Comander Christophe Prazuck said that France and Germany, which have ships in the area as part of an international anti-piracy coalition involving Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia and the US, sent the aircraft after receiving a distress call just after dawn.

But in the 15 minutes it took to get to the site, the pirates had already boarded and had taken the crew of 25 Indians and two Bangladeshis hostage. The three guards who leapt overboard were safe aboard a French warship, he said.

The anti-piracy coalition deploys warships to escort some merchant ships and respond to distress calls in the fight against pirate attacks off Somalia’s coast, a major international shipping lane through which about 20 tankers sail daily. Friday’s was the 97th ship hijacking this year.

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