Following a detailed assessment of the dawn attack on the ESPS PATINO on 12 January 2012, the political decision has been made to hand-over the evidence pack for consideration by the courts for prosecution in Spain. The suspected pirates have all been given medical treatment for injuries sustained during their attack and two of the suspected pirates will require additional medical treatment once they have been landed. They are all currently stable and in no medical danger onboard the ESPS PATINO.
The group of suspect pirates made their attack while the Flagship was in the vicinity of Mogadishu following the escort of a World Food Programme ship carrying food-aid into Somalia. They attempted to climb onboard having fired light-calibre weapons into the superstructure to try to make the ship stop however the detachment of Spanish Marines, embarked for Force Protection Duties, returned fire in self-defence, forcing the suspected pirates to break-off their attack. The ship’s Seaking helicopter was subsequently launched to track the skiff and the occupants surrendered. A search was instituted for a seventh man who was alleged by the suspected pirates to have been lost overboard from the skiff during their attack however, no evidence has been found to confirm this claim.