On 22 November, during a patrol in the Gulf of Aden, the EU NAVFOR Italian warship ITS LIBECCIO, received a report from the NATO Italian warship ITS BERSAGLIERE, stating that a floating wreck had been observed along commonly used merchant shipping navigation routes.
Considering the danger that this wreck posed to other vessels, it was decided that the EU NAVFOR ship ITS LIBECCIO, equipped with bomb disposal experts onboard, would destroy the wreckage with an explosive charge.
The team from EU NAVFOR ITS LIBECCIO Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD), in sinking the wreck, discovered that it was the wreck of the dhow from which the EU NAVFOR Belgium warship BNS LOUISE MARIE had rescued six fishermen a week earlier.
This operation was carried out displaying another example of good cooperation between two forces to clear a dangerous hazard from the navigation routes in an area, which almost 70 merchant vessels transit every day.