Somali pirates shocked by Greek vessel

03 December, 2008, 18:15

NATO ships patrolling the Gulf of Aden are unable to give protection to all the passing vessels. So the crew of a Greek bulk freighter ‘Ellivita’ decided to defend their ship from the Somali pirates by themselves.

Their answer to combating piracy is high voltage. The Greek ship has run wires on both sides of the cargo deck and, when passing the dangerous gulf, they have a 220-volt current running through them. The crew also put up banners warning the pirates about the high voltage.

And it helped. The pirates attacked Ellivita but when they saw the warning signs they decided not to risk boarding the vessel.

Despite this success the captain of the Greek ship, Panaotis Tsanetakos, says he won’t sail through the Gulf of Aden ever again. He and the crew had listened to the many radio reports and S.O.S. calls from other attacked ships.  

“I will never return there, even if you’ll offer me mountains of gold for it,” he said.