The Indian navy has stopped a bulker hijacked by pirates three months ago after a pursuit lasting several hours and freed the crew.
It has been almost three months since pirates took control of the bulker “Ruen”. Now the frigate INS “Kolkatta” has succeeded in stopping the hijacked ship in the Indian Ocean. During the recapture, all 17 crew members were freed and 35 pirates were arrested, the Indian Navy announced. [ds_preview]
This was preceded by a pursuit of the bulker lasting several hours until the operation finally took place almost 1400 nm off the Indian coast. The frigate was fired upon by the pirates as it approached, but there were no casualties.
Used as a “mother ship” by pirates?
The freighter (42,300 dwt) of the shipping company Navibulgar, which sails under the Maltese flag, had already been attacked and hijacked on December 23. According to reports, seven crew members from Bulgaria, nine from Myanmar and one from Angola were on board the “Ruen”. The command of the EU Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) assumes that the bulker was last used by the pirates as a “mother ship” to board a Bangladesh-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia.
At the end of January, the Indian Navy said it had freed the crews of two fishing boats from the hands of Somali pirates within 36 hours. Somalia is located on the Horn of Africa opposite Yemen. Pirate activity from there has recently flared up again after a period of calm lasting several years, in parallel with attacks by the Houthi movement on merchant ships.
