An attempt by pirates to board a Maltese registered vessel this afternoon was foiled by a navy helicopter of unknown nationality.

Sources said that the captain of the ship, the mv Sigloo Star, sent a distress message to a Cairo-based rescue-coordination centre just before 2 p.m. and Maltese authorities made contact with the ship shortly afterwards.

The captain confirmed that a distress call was made because pirates had tried to attack the vessel.

He said that when they tried to board the vessel, a navy helicopter of unknown nationality approached the ship, and the pirates retreated.

No one was injured during the attempted boarding. The pirates were on the previously seized vessel mv Hannibal-2, taken on November 11. They were using it as a mothership of sorts.

The Sigloo Star has a crew of 22 seamen onboard and is steaming to the port of Magdalla in India.

During the attack, it was located some 130 miles off the coast of Oman and Yemen in the Arabian Sea.