NATO Warship HMS Montrose races to assist ship after pirate attack

NATO Warship HMS Montrose races to assist ship after pirate attack

Today British warship HMS Montrose came to the aid of a German owned ship - MV Beluga Fortune after she had been attacked by armed pirates in the Indian Ocean. The Beluga Fortune sent out a „may day‟ to say that she was coming under attack, and that her crew were locking themselves in a safe room or „citadel‟ to try and prevent the pirates from taking them hostage. HMS Montrose, who is part of NATO‟s counter piracy mission, code-named Operation Ocean Shield, was the closest warship, and so raced to the scene to help the terrified crew. The pirates, hearing that HMS Montrose was on her way, abandoned the ship, but not before setting fire to part of the superstructure. As the Beluga Fortune‟s crew had barricaded themselves in, they were unaware if the pirates were still on board or not, and so were very relieved when a team of Royal Marines from HMS Montrose boarded the vessel this afternoon and released them from the safe room. None of the crew were injured.