Spanish frigate Santa María sets sail from Cádiz to join EU anti-piracy mission

200 sailors made their farewells to their families at the naval base in Rota, Cádiz, on Wednesday, as they prepared to set sail for the Indian Ocean on board the Spanish Navy frigate, the ‘Santa María’.

The ship has been deployed in the EU anti-piracy mission Operation Atalanta and will be relieving the Canarias, which earlier this month freed the crew of an Iranian fishing boat who had been held captive by Somali pirates for five months.

The Canarias crew also arrested another 11 suspected pirates in a previous operation this April and, in its previous mission with Atalanta, captured two of the group which hijacked the Alakrana tuna trawler in October 2009.

The Santa María now takes over in the Indian Ocean on its first mission in Operation Atalanta. It carries 216 crew on board, including the crew of its two helicopters, a Marines unit, and 29 women.