“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.

Author
TPN/Lusa