EU Naval Force - Somalia
Operation ATALANTA

Reports have been received by EU NAVFOR that the MV Iceberg 1 has been hijacked 10 nautical miles off the port of Aden, Yemen, outside the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC).

The Iceberg 1 is a Panama Flagged, Roll on Roll Off vessel with deadweight of 4500 tonnes. The vessel, with a crew of 24 and carrying a mixed cargo of general mechanical equipment, was bound for Jebel Ali in the UAE when hijacked. The crew consist of persons from Yemen, India, Ghana, Sudan, Pakistan and the Philipines.

The last contact with the vessel was the master stating to his owner that pirates were onboard. The vessel appears to be heading towards the Somali coast. EU NAVFOR units are monitoring the situation.

Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP) and vessels of AMISOM, and to protect vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy. EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.