Armed pirates aboard a skiff assaulted an oil vessel underway in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, yet the assault was fended off when the ship’s safety group returned fire, authorities have actually verified.

The International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre, which was initial to report the occurrence, claimed 6 individuals equipped with weapons in a skiff came close to as well as bombarded a vessel underway about 103 maritime miles east of Muscat, Oman.

“The alarm raised and non-essential crew retreated to the citadel. Speed increased, evasive maneuvers conducted and onboard armed security team fired warning shots resulting in the skiffs moving away. A mother vessel was seen in the vicinity. Vessel is safe,” the IMB record claimed.

The European Union Naval Force ATALANTA (EU NAVFOR) later on verified the assault as well as determined the vessel as the MT NAVIG8 Providence, a 2016-built 74,000 DWT LR1 vessel coming from Navig8 Group as well as flagged in theMarshall Islands

“It is understood that as the skiff moved towards the tanker, there was an exchange of small arms fire between the suspected pirates and the maritime security team on board the tanker,” EU NAVFOR claimed.

In an e-mail, the master of the MT NAVIG8 Providence reported that his ship’s safety group saw a ladder in the skiff, EU NAVFOR claimed.

Counter- piracy marine pressures are collaborating a reaction to look for the skiff.

The assault is the 2nd in as several days in the Horn of Africa area. On Wednesday, a various Marshall Islands- flagged vessel was bombarded by pirates equipped with an RPG in a skiff while cruising in the Bab- el-Mandeb Strait, linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

Both strikes adhere to a string of current pirate strikes off the shore Somalia as well as Yemen in current months after years of tranquility. At the very least several of the strikes, nonetheless, have actually been credited to the instability in Yemen instead of the return of Somali- based piracy.