A Chinese ship patrolling the Gulf of Aden has thwarted a pirate attack on a Greek merchant ship, state media reported yesterday.
The destroyer Wuhan, one of the ships sent to tackle rampant piracy in the seas off Somalia, received a distress signal from the Greek vessel Elenig at about 9.30am on Thursday as it was en route to the Mandab Strait to escort Chinese merchant ships, Xinhua reported.
The Elenig, 44km from the destroyer, appealed for help, saying it was being besieged by pirate speedboats. Du Jingchen , the Wuhan's commander, sent out a scout helicopter and headed for the Greek ship.
The helicopter arrived at 9.58am and performed a low-level spiral manoeuvre above the ship, but that did not scare off the pirates' three speedboats. Then the Chinese destroyer ordered the firing of three warning signal flares, and the pirates fled.
At 10.35am, the captain of the Elenig told the destroyer his ship and crew were safe and thanked Commander Du for his ship's assistance. The report said several merchant ships were harassed, hijacked or attacked by pirates on Thursday.
Dozens of vessels from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland have received protection from the Chinese ships since Beijing began its naval mission this month in the dangerous waters.
