Before the pirates could take control of the ship, the crew had barricaded themselves in the tanker’s citadel, an armored panic room. Unable to seize the crew, the pirates boarded a skiff and headed toward Yemen. Guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG-87) and an unidentified Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ship responded to the incident, the defense official confirmed. The crew of Mason pursued the skiff as it headed toward Yemen with the ship’s embarked helicopter and ultimately detained the five for questioning, the official confirmed.
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