The HTMS Pattani and HTMS Similan left yesterday with two
helicopters lashed to the decks from Chuk Samet port at Chon Buri's Sattahip
naval base to join a 28-country effort to police the shipping lanes off the
Somali coast, which has become a piracy hotbed.
"The key mission of this 98-day operation is to protect
Thai cargo ships and fishing vessels in those waters," said Adm Supakorn
Buranadilok, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Fleet. The navy expects up to 60
Thai ships to pass through the Gulf of Aden during the course of the operation.
The navy's SEALs unit will be part of the fleet involved in
the mission. The budget for the mission has been set at 270 million baht. The
ships are expected to take 17 days to reach the Gulf of Aden on a journey
covering 4,573 nautical miles. The ships are expected to return about Dec 12.
Two navy ships with 371 sailors and special warfare marines
on board set sail from Thailand to take part in international operations to
protect ships from pirates in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia.
Political chaos and civil war in Somalia have allowed piracy
to flourish off the country's 3,100km coastline. Somali pirates were involved
in more than half of the 406 reported pirate attacks worldwide last year.
They mounted 217 attacks in 2009, hijacking 47 ships and
taking 867 crew members hostage with ransoms believed to total US$50 million
(1.6 billion baht). A number of Thai ships have been hijacked by Somali pirates
over the past five years.
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