A detachment of warships and support vessels of the Northern Fleet, consisting of the large anti-submarine ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov, the medium sea tanker Akademik Pashin and the rescue tugboat Altai completed the tasks assigned to ensure the safety of civilian navigation in the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, says press center of RF Defence Ministry. Today the Northern Fleet sailors left the gulf and headed for the Cape Verde.
The anti-piracy mission of Russian sailors off the coast of Africa lasted almost four weeks. On October 25, the crew of the large anti-submarine ship Vice-Admiral Kulakov prevented the seizure by unknown armed men of the container carrier Lucia sailing under the flag of Panama from the Republic of Togo to Cameroon. The pirates attempting to hijack the ship left the container carrier when Ka-27PS helicopter arrived with a group of marines that took off from a Russian warship to monitor the surface situation. Counter-terrorist group was landed on board the cargo ship, freed a crew of 22 people and examined the ship.
During the anti-piracy duty, the Russian sailos inspected several civilian ships and ensured the safe escort of container carrier Lucie.