Three British private security guards threw themselves overboard into the Gulf of Aden when Somali pirates attacked the ship they were to protect.

The guards, from a UK-based shipping protection company, were rescued by a German navy helicopter, and they left the Singapore-operated MS Biscaglia unable to defend itself despite its “protection” and a distress call to a nearby warship. The pirates overran the Liberian-flagged chemical tanker, and kidnapped its mainly Indian crew of 28.

So far this year, there have been 97 attempted hijackings off the lawless Horn of Africa. A massive deployment of foreign navies to the vital shipping lane has so far failed to halt or even slow the rate of attacks, with new ships taken almost daily.

A spokesman for Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions (APMSS), a shipping protection company based in Poole, Dorset, said the tanker was attacked in daylight by five pirates on a highspeed launch. Despite the presence of the security men, the pirates boarded the tanker. APMSS, which advertises “non-lethal” security solutions, said their guards had been “under fire”. A spokesman said: “Basically if they didn't [jump], we would probably have been picking three bodies out of the water.”