“Today at 6.38 a.m. in mainland Portugal the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC) / Search & Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC Lisbon) got an alert from two ships - a Norwegian merchant ship and a French fishing vessel - informing that a merchant ship flying the Marshall Islands flag near the La Borracha island in the north of Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, was in imminent danger as two armed men from a skiff were attacking the ship)”, the Navy said.

Following the alert sent through the Portuguese Navy Shipping Centre, Venezuela’s Coast Guard sent two rigid-hulled inflatable boats to set off an operation to avoid the crime”, according to the communiqué.

The Navy added that the pirates left the ship as the Coast Guard approached.