Navy foils bid to hijack ship, rescues 17 crew
In a high-action operation, Indian Navy elite commandos Marcos on Saturday boarded a merchant vessel — hijacked by Somali pirates in December and being used as a mother ship to launch more hijacking attempts in the high seas.
Due to the Navy action, 35 pirates on vessel ex-MV Ruen surrendered, and the operation ensured safe evacuation of 17 crew members that were held hostage. “INS Kolkata, in the last 40 hours, through concerted actions successfully cornered and coerced all 35 pirates to surrender and ensured safe evacuation of 17 crew members in the evening today 16 March from the pirate vessel without any injury,” the Navy said.
INS Kolkata had carried out the interception of the pirate ship Ruen almost
MALTA FLAGGED vessel ex-MV Ruen, which was hijacked on December 15 in Arabian Sea and was taken towards Somalia
1400 nautical miles (2600km) from the Indian coast and forced the pirate ship to stop through calibrated actions. Indian Navy patrol ship INS Subhadra, MQ-9B Sea Guardian drones, and P8I maritime patrol aircraft were also pressed into action. Navy’s Marcos commandos were air dropped by C-17 aircraft.
The vessel has also been sanitised for presence of illegal arms, ammunition and contraband.
Malta flagged commercial vessel ex-MV Ruen, which was hijacked on December 15 in Arabian Sea and was taken towards Somalia. It is suspected that Somali pirates may have used ex-MV
Ruen to hijack Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia this week. Ruen was the first successful hijacking involving Somali pirates since 2017 when a crackdown by international navies stopped a rash of seizures in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Earlier in the day Indian Navy had said that pirates on ex-MV Ruen had opened fire after it was intercepted. “The vessel opened fire on the warship, which was taking actions, as per international law, in self defence and to counter piracy, with minimal force necessary to neutralise the pirates’ threat to shipping and seafarers. The pirates onboard the vessel have been called upon to surrender and release the vessel and any civilians they may be holding against their will,” Indian Navy had said.