In a daring 40-hour operation, the Indian Navy on Saturday coerced 35 Somali pirates to surrender and rescued 17 crew members held hostage on a hijacked ship, the Navy said in a statement.
The rescued vessel carrying over 37,800 tonnes of cargo worth $ 1 million dollars will be brought back to India on Sunday, it added.
The high stakes rescue involved multiple Navy vessels, drones, aircrafts and marine commandos.
While conducting surveillance, the Indian Navy detected the hijacked bulk cargo vessel Ruen and directed its warship INS Kolkata to intercept it. The warship sailed over 2,600 km and cornered the vessel on Friday morning.
The ships was being used by pirates for three months after it was hijacked on December 14.
A ship-launched drone approached the hijacked ship and confirmed the presence of armed pirates on it. Seeing the drone, the pirates opened fire and shot it down.
In a video shared by the Navy, a pirate is seen walking onto the deck of the ship and aiming his gun at the aircraft hovering over the vessel before he begin firing.
In response, INS Kolkata disabled the ship's steering system and navigation aids to force the pirates to surrender and release the hostages.
On Saturday, the Navy successfully took control of the ship with support from patrol vessel INS Subhadra, High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE RPA) drones and P8I maritime patrol aircraft.
A squad of 8 marine commandos (MARCOS PRAHARs) were also airdropped by a C-17 aircraft onto the vessel to detain the pirates and safely evacuate the crew. No injuries were sustained during the operation, the Navy said, adding that the ship had been checked for illegal arms, ammunition and contraband.
"Due to sustained pressure and calibrated actions by the Indian Navy over the last 40 hours, all 35 Somali pirates surrendered PM 16 Mar 24. All 17 original crew members of MV Ruen were also safely evacuated from the pirate vessel without any injury. The seaworthiness of MV Ruen will be assessed in the morning on 17 Mar 2024, and the vessel which is carrying approx. 37800 T of cargo worth more than one million dollars will be brought safely to India," the Navy said in a statement.
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