The crew of the large anti-submarine ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov of the Russian Navy prevented the seizure of a civilian vessel in the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean on 25th November. A video posted by the Russian Ministry of Defence shows a Russian helicopter on the horizon, the pirates in the boat headed towards the shore at full speed.
The Northern Fleet sailors rescued a civilian ship off the western coast of Africa from a pirate attack after Vice-Admiral Kulakov received a distress signal from the container ship Lucia which was about 80 km away. The ship was sailing under the Panama flag from Togo to Cameroon when armed men approached it in a fast boat. Following the anti piracy drills, the crew sent a distress signal and locked themselves securely.
The Russian ship dispatched a Ka-27PS helicopter with a Marine Corps unit to the area of the incident. Seeing the approaching military, the eight attackers in the speedboat retreated towards the shore at full speed. According to the Northern Fleet’s battleship detachment commander, Captain 1st Rank Stanislav Varik, the pilots flew in the most difficult hydrometeorological conditions as there was a continuous tropical downpour.
The approaching “Vice-Admiral Kulakov” sent the marines on a high-speed boat to the ship – an assault group and a cover group. They carefully examined the decks and premises of the ship before assuring the crew. A helicopter covered the marines from the air, and a drone helped with the command and control. According to Stanislav Varik, one Russian citizen, one Romanian and 20 Ukrainian citizens on Lucia. The warship remained about 300 meters from the container ship.
Soldiers of the 61st Marine Brigade reconnaissance battalion and specialists of the 420th Marine Reconnaissance Point (MRP) were involved in the rescue.