New Delhi: The Indian and Chinese navies came to the rescue of a private bulk carrier which was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.
A security source working at the Puntland Marine Police Force said the vessel was Tuvalu-flagged and is known as OS35.
INS Tarkash and INS Mumbai assist the Chinese PLA in sanitising a ship hijacked in the Gulf of Aden: Navy Sources
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 9, 2017
Provided the communication and air support to the PLA Navy which entered the ship to clear it. The ship has been rendered safe:Navy Sources
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 9, 2017
Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, the head of private company Dryad Maritime Intelligence, said industry sources had confirmed the hijacking.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which coordinates shipping in the Gulf of Aden area, said on its website it had received a notification on Saturday from a vessel in an area in the Gulf of Aden that was under attack and may have been boarded.
The hijacking comes days after pirates hijacked an Indian dhow that was on route to Bossaso from Dubai.
Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker in March, the first such seizure of a vessel since 2012, but released it after a clash with the marine force in Puntland.
Ship owners have become less wary of piracy after a long period of calm off the Horn of Africa, experts say, and some have started using a route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island, to save time and costs. The route is considered riskier than others.
At its peak in 2011, pirates launched 237 attacks off the coast of Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau, and took hundreds of hostages.
Their actions cost the world economy $7 billion and earned the pirates some $160 million in ransoms, according to the bureau.
(With agency inputs)