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Dramatic footage of a private security team engaging in a fire fight with Somali pirates trying to hijack a cargo ship has emerged online.
A speedboat can be seen hurtling towards the vessel as a private security contractor wielding a sub-machine gun begins to take aim.
One guard begins by firing warning shots around the boat which can be seen landing just feet away from the speedboat.
After firing dozens of rounds at the speedboat which crashes into the ship's hull, one contractor can be heard shouting: 'Where they at, what's their position?'
As one speedboat careers off in retreat security can be heard calling: 'Second skip coming in.'
A second boat races towards the starboard of the ship.
Security guards fire dozens more rounds at the vessel which eventually retreats.
The footage, uploaded on April 20, and is believed to have taken place in the Indian ocean in 2012.
It has come to prominence again following an attack on an oil tanker in March.
The clip was uploaded to YouTube and has since been viewed more than five million times.
Last month pirates hijacked an oil tanker off the coast of Somalia in the first hijacking of a large commercial vessel on the crucial global trade route since 2012.
The Aris 13 on Monday reported being approached by two skiffs, John Steed with the organization Oceans Beyond Piracy said.
The ship had been carrying fuel from Djibouti to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, he said. Eight Sri Lankan crew members were reported aboard.
An official in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland said more than two dozen men boarded the ship off Somalia's northern coast, an area known to be used by weapons smugglers and members of the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab.