Indian naval forces together with particular commandos seized a cargo vessel that had been hijacked by Somali pirates, rescuing 17 crew members, a spokesperson for the navy stated on Saturday.
The navy stated in a submit on social media platform X that every one 35 pirates aboard the ship, the Maltese-flagged bulk cargo vessel Ruen, had surrendered, and the ship had been checked for the presence of unlawful arms, ammunition and contraband.
The Ruen had been hijacked final yr and the navy stated it had intercepted the vessel on Friday.
The vessel could have been used as the bottom for the takeover of a Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia earlier this week, the European Union naval power stated.
The hijacking of the Ruen was the primary profitable takeover of a vessel involving Somali pirates since 2017 when a crackdown by worldwide navies stopped a rash of seizures within the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Somali pirates had precipitated chaos in essential international waterways for a decade however had been dormant till a resurgence of assaults beginning late final yr.
India deploys a minimum of a dozen warships east of the Red Sea to supply safety towards pirates as Western powers give attention to assaults by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
At least 17 incidents of hijacking, tried hijacking and suspicious approaches had been recorded by the Indian Navy since Dec. 1, Indian officers beforehand stated.
(Photo: Indian Navy)
(Photo: Indian Navy)
(Reuters – Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi and Mrinmay Dey, with M. Sriram; Editing by Stephen Coates and David Holmes)
