The Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced that a German military helicopter has foiled an attempt by pirates to seize an Egyptian ship off the coast of Somalia. Foreign Minister Assistant for Consular Affairs and Egyptians abroad Ahmed Rezq said the center of the Maritime Transport Sector of the Ministry of Transport informed the Foreign Ministry that an Egyptian cargo ship called "Bawadi Al-Arab" with 30 sailors on board and led by Egyptian captain Ibrahim Ismail Khidr was shot by Somali pirates off the Somali coast. But a German naval military unit called (Karlsruhe) was located by chance near the site of the Egyptian cargo ship and managed to save it from being kidnapped. In press statements yesterday, Rezq said: "The ship is currently guarded by the German military marine unit and a helicopter. It is on its way to South Korea." The crew is fine, except engineer Wael Said Al-Sayed Barakat from Sharkia, who was shot in his thigh, Rezq said. The cargo ship is owned by the National Navigation Company. It was coming from the port of Odessa, Ukraine, carrying a cargo of wheat amounting to 56,000 tons to a South Korean port.
