Coastguards in the UK have helped stop pirates attacking a cargo ship off the Horn of Africa for the second time.

A French warship sent a helicopter to the vessel after a mayday call was picked up by Falmouth Coastguard, in Cornwall, on Monday.

A spokesman for the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Mark Clark, said: "The pirates saw the helicopter and immediately departed the scene."

The crew of the Greek-owned vessel - registered in Rotterdam - was taken aboard the warship, Floreal, because they had run out of food and water.

Falmouth Coastguard regularly responds to distress calls thousands of miles away.

It picked up the first distress message from the Princess Sarah on 14 January, when the ship was being chased by gunmen aboard two speedboats off the coast of Somalia.

The raiders ordered the captain to stop the ship and attempted to board, but he refused.

The ship sailed free after being pursued for an hour, with no-one on board hurt.

On that occasion the UK coastguards alerted the French Army in Djibuti, Somalia, and the International Piracy Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

On Tuesday, a vessel owned by the same shipping company was on its way to take the Princess Sarah in tow.