A Navibulgar bulk carrier and all 17 crew, hijacked by Somali pirates three months ago, have been rescued by the Indian naval forces.
The navy said the special commandos on its warship INS Kolkata had forced the surrender of 35 Somali pirates and that the crew of the abducted Maltese-flagged Ruen were rescued without injury.
The 2016-built ship was seized in December off the coast of Somalia, marking the first successful takeover of a vessel involving Somali pirates since 2017.
Earlier this week, a Bangladeshi bulk carrier, Abdullah, was also abducted by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean with 23 crew members onboard.
The EU naval force said the Ruen, rescued 93 days after it got hijacked, may have been used as the base for the takeover of the bulker owned by SR Shipping, a subsidiary of Kabir Group.
The operation, which lasted about 40 hours, started on Friday when the navy intercepted the Ruen and called upon the pirates to surrender and release the vessel and its crew, after which they opened fire on the Indian warship in international waters.
The Indian Navy, earlier this year, also rescued two Iranian-flagged fishing vessels along the east coast of Somalia and foiled an attempted hijacking of the Liberian-flagged capesize bulker Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea.
More than 20 hijackings or attempted hijackings of ships in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin have been recorded since November. As of Friday, there have been no ransom demands from the pirates who hijacked the Bangladeshi bulker now anchored about 4 nautical miles off Godob Jiraan, Somalia.
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