BEIJING, December 19, 2008 – The crew of a Chinese ship attacked by pirates off Somalia earlier this week used Molotov cocktails and empty beer bottles to defend their vessel, local media said on Friday.

The Chinese commercial ship Zhenhua-4, with 30 Chinese crewmembers on board, came under attack by nine pirates on Wednesday. The ship was rescued five hours later by international forces, including two warships and a helicopter.

The ship's captain, Peng Weiyuan, told China Central Television in a telephone interview on Friday that the crew had used "water cannon, homemade incendiary bombs, beer bottles and other missiles to fight the pirates," the China Daily newspaper said.

"Thirty minutes later, the pirates gestured to us for a ceasefire then the helicopter from the joint fleet came to our help," he said.

The navies of at least 10 countries are involved in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia, which has no functioning government to police its coastline.

In October, Russia sent the Neustrashimy (Fearless) missile frigate from the Northern Fleet to East African waters to protect commercial shipping. The Neustrashimy will continue its mission until the end of the year, when it will be replaced by the Pacific Fleet's destroyer Admiral Vinogradov.

Source: RIA Novosti

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