French Foil Attack on 150,000 DWT Oil Tanker

On Tuesday Somali pirates attempted to hijack the 150,000+ DWT crude oil tanker African Ruby. Unfortunately for the pirates, the French were in the neighborhood.

The French navy on Tuesday foiled an attack on a cargo ship in the pirate-infested waters off Somalia and arrested nine men allegedly trying to board the vessel, the military said here.

The French frigate Le Floreal received a distress call from the African Ruby and dispatched a helicopter which spotted two high-speed skiffs with armed men on board, a military spokesman said.

The chopper fired warning shots and the nine men on the skiffs were later detained, he said, adding that the interception took place in international waters off Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of northeast Somalia.

This marks the seventh action taken by the French against piracy since the French raid that arrested pirates last April. Check out the photo album of the incident at Fred Fry's place.

Eagle1 has more, including a link to a picture of the African Ruby. Now that is a big ship.