CAPE TOWN, South Africa – A Maltese-flagged service provider ship that was hijacked final week within the Arabian Sea with 18 crew members on board is now off the coast of Somalia, the European Union’s maritime safety power stated Tuesday. One crew member has been evacuated for medical care.
The bulk service Ruen stays beneath the management of the hijackers, whose identification and calls for are unknown, the EU Naval Force stated in a press release. It didn’t give particulars on the situation of the crew member who was taken off the vessel on Monday and moved to an Indian navy ship that has been shadowing the Ruen.
An Indian maritime patrol airplane noticed the Ruen a day after its hijacking final Thursday and made radio contact with the crew, who had locked themselves in a secure room. The hijackers broke into the secure room and ‘extracted the crew’ hours later, the EU Naval Force stated.
The Ruen, which is managed by Bulgarian delivery firm Navibulgar, was off the Yemeni island of Socotra close to the Horn of Africa when it was boarded, the non-public intelligence agency Ambrey and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations stated. Bulgarian authorities stated the ship’s crew have been Angolan, Bulgarian and Myanmar nationals.
The 185-meter Ruen was carrying a cargo of metals from the port of Gwangyang in South Korea, the EU Naval Force stated. It had been headed to the Turkish port of Gemlik. The captain confirmed the hijacking by sending a mayday alert to the EU Naval Force’s command middle.
The vessel has now moved southwest towards the coast of Somalia, in line with the EU power.
Suspicion has fallen on Somali pirates, whose assaults have decreased markedly lately. They could also be extra energetic once more. The Pentagon has stated that 5 armed assailants who seized a business ship close to Yemen late final month have been seemingly Somali nationals and never Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have been first suspected to be accountable.
The Yemen-based Houthi rebels have escalated their assaults on ships passing via the Red Sea in the course of the Israel-Hamas warfare, impacting international commerce. The U.S. stated Tuesday that it and a number of different nations are making a power to guard ships transiting the Red Sea which have come beneath assault from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
But Somalia’s maritime police have additionally intensified their patrols in current weeks following the Pentagon’s evaluation of final month’s tried hijacking, as fears develop of a resurgence of piracy by Somali nationals.
A Spanish frigate from the EU Naval Force and a Japanese naval vessel that’s beneath the multinational Combined Maritime Forces command have moved to the neighborhood of the hijacked Ruen to affix the Indian navy vessel. It is being ‘repeatedly monitored’ by the ships and a 5-meter-long drone utilized by the EU power.