The cargo ship LNG Aries was attacked by pirates off Masirah Island, Arabian sea. The cargo ship was carrying natural gas, when one skiff with 5-6 persons aboard attacked the ship and fired several shots to the LNG Carrier. The pirates were not able to board the cargo vessel, due to good maneuvers of the duty navigation officer and the army forces interaction of the closest military ship. On board of the cargo ship LNG Aries there were no armed guard in spite of the area of operation. The pirates attacks became more frequent again, as they attacked around the shores of Somalia a few cargo vessels. The LNG Carriers are quite defenceless, as the cargo on board is highly explodable. On board of the skiff, which attacked LNG Aries there were also RPG, which might cause serious damage of the vessel with such kind of cargo, but fortunately it was not used by the pirates.
The LNG Aries (IMO: 7390193) has length of 285.00 meters, beam of 44.00 meters and draught of 11.10 meters. The summer deadweight of the LNG carrier is 72,511 DWT and the gross tonnage is 95,084 GRT. The vessel was built in 1977 in the shipyard of General Dynamics Quincy in Quincy Ma, USA. The ship is owned by Bgt – Stamford Ct, USA and managed by MOL LNG Transport Europe, UK.