Indian Navy warship rescues 17 crew members of hijacked merchant vessel; 35 pirates surrender
In an end to the episode of the merchant vesselturnedpirate vessel Ruen,
the Indian Navy destroyer
INS Kolkata through concerted actions successfully cornered and coerced all 35 pirates to surrender and ensured the safe evacuation of 17 crew members from the pirate vessel without any injury, the Navy said late on Saturday.
The exMalta flagged merchant vessel Ruen,
which was hijacked on December 14 and taken to Somalian waters, was turned into a pirate vessel and was reported being used as a pirate ship.
The vessel was intercepted by INS Kolkata on March 14 when it was fired upon.
“INS Kolkata had carried out the interception of the Pirate Ship Ruen almost 1,400 nm [2,600km] from the Indian Coast, and forced the pirate ship to stop through calibrated actions which were augmented by INS Subhadra, high altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, P8I maritime patrol aircraft and MARCOS airdropped by C17 aircraft,” the Navy spokesperson said. “The vessel has also been sanitised for presence of illegal arms, ammunition, and contraband.” Earlier in the day,
Ruen.
the spokesperson said that the vessel opened fire on the warship, which was “taking actions in accordance with international law with minimal force necessary to neutralise the pirates’ threat to shipping and seafarers”. An important aspect pointed out by officials is that Ruen is no longer “Maltese flagged”.
It is in fact flying no flag, and is hence stateless and to be considered as “pirate ship ExRuen”, officials said. Actions against the vessel, if any, are accordingly as per international law against pirate and stateless vessels, and in self defence as the vessel has committed hostilities against Indian Navy, one official noted.
Resurgent piracy
There has been a resurgence in piracy in the Horn of Africa coinciding with the volatile situation in the Red Sea with drone and missile attacks by Houthis on commercial shipping.
Earlier this week, a Bangladesh flagged merchant vessel MV Abdullah was hijacked by Somali pirates while it was enroute from Mozambique to the UAE.