On Friday morning the frigate Antonio Marceglia intervened to help the merchant queen zenobia, flying the Liberian flag, off the coast of Ghana, which reported having people on board unrelated to the crew.
Received the alarm by mail from Accra Maritime Multinational Coordination Center (Ghana) *, related to the presence of intruders equipped with axes intent on piercing the rudder compartment, Nave Marceglia headed at high speed towards the position of the merchant in difficulty. In the meantime, the intruders had been "confined" to the rudder compartment of the merchant ship.
In the transit towards the intervention, the priority was focused on the activity of info-sharing: the shipowner and the Master of the merchant ship were immediately contacted, to ensure that the crew was safe on board, then proceeded to alert the merchant ships of national interest in the area displayed on the national platform V-RMTC (Virtual Regional Maritime Traffic Center) and to call the people in charge of the security of national shipping companies and oil companies located in the area.
At the same time, through the consolidated relationships with the representatives of the Nigerian Navy, coordination actions were undertaken in order to establish a shared intervention plan.
Ship Marcegliaarrived near the intercept of the freighter, launched the SH90 helicopter with the personnel of the opposed team of the marine brigade Saint Mark in order to ensure constant visual contact and to carry out escort duties of the Mercantile bound for Lagos (Nigeria).
Once in the vicinity of Nigerian territorial waters, a Hand / Over was coordinated with the Nigerian Navy Ship, Ekulu, which then took on the role of escort ship of the merchant queen zenobia, up to the mooring at anchor near the port of Lagos, where the intruders were arrested by Nigerian Navy personnel and the merchant was able to resume navigation.
Both the company security officer of the company to which MN belongs queen zenobia, Dimokratis Tatanis, both the commodore Matthew Daupreye, the commander ofoperations officer of the Western Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy, thanked Nave Marceglia for having guaranteed the regular transit of the Mercantile towards the Nigerian coasts with the presence and the finalization of the operational activity.
Ship Marceglia, having completed the escort activity, it returned to patrolling in the Gulf of Guinea with a view to guaranteeing monitoring and surveillance of maritime routes and in order to ensure the free use of the sea by national and international merchant vessels, for contribute to the improvement of security conditions in the region.
The success of the real event is the testimony of the continuous and fruitful cooperation activity carried out so far by the units of the Navy located in the Gulf of Guinea, an area characterized by the widespread presence of criminal phenomena that materialize in acts of piracy and illicit trafficking. .
