South Korean troops rescue ship, kill pirates in Arabian Sea - Summary

Fri, 21 Jan 2011

Seoul - Naval special forces from South Korea on Friday stormed a ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea, freed all 21 crew members aboard and killed eight pirates, South Korea's military said.

The captain of the South Korean-operated chemical tanker Samho Jewelry was shot in the stomach in the operation 1,300 kilometers off north-east Somalia but his injury was not life-threatening, said Colonel Lee Bung Woo, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The five other pirates on the vessel were captured, he said.

The crew had been held since January 15 when its 11,500-ton, Norwegian-owned ship was hijacked in waters between Oman and India. It was sailing at the time from Sri Lanka to the United Arab Emirates.

The rescue by South Korean navy SEALs was made three days after the South Korean destroyer Choi Young exchanged fire with the pirates as it was pursuing the hijacked Samho Jewelry and some of the pirates aboard disembarked to try to capture a Mongolian vessel.

Three South Korean soldiers suffered minor injuries in the earlier battle and were treated in a hospital in Oman while several pirates fell into the water and were believed to be dead, Lee said.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak ordered the Choi Young to pursue the pirates early this week. The destroyer, which began patrols in the Gulf of Aden at the end of last year as part of an anti-piracy operation off Somalia, continued to dog the pirates since Tuesday, backed by an Omani navy ship, which helped in Friday's rescue operation.

Eight of the sailors aboard the Maltese-flagged vessel Samho Jewelry are South Korean, 11 were from Myanmar and two from Indonesia, according to the South Korean government.

"This operation demonstrated our government's strong will that we won't tolerate illegal activities by pirates any more," President Lee said.

Seven ships carrying South Koreans have so far been hijacked by Somali pirates. One continued to be held, and the other five were released after ransoms were paid.

News of the operation came as the European Union's anti-piracy force, Atalanta, reported that two other ships had been seized by Somali pirates.

The freighter MV Khaled Muhieddine K was taken Thursday 330 nautical miles, or 610 kilometers, south-east of the port of Salalah, Oman, an Atalanta spokesman said.

The captain reported that the ship with 22 Syrians and three Egyptians aboard had come under fire and was being boarded by pirates shortly before contact with the bulk carrier was lost, Atalanta said.

The Syrian-owned, Togo-flagged, 24,000-ton vessel was on its way from Singapore to Yemen.

The fate of another crew was also unknown Friday. A Vietnamese-owned bulk carrier and its 24 crew members were seized by Somali pirates off Oman, its shipping company said.

Nguyen Bien Cuong, head of the Hoang Son Co's maritime security department, said the last time his firm had heard from the Vietnamese crew of the 22,835-ton, Mongolian-flagged Hoang Son Sun was Tuesday.

The Hoang Son Sun was apparently pirated about 520 nautical miles, or 960 kilometers, south-east of Oman's capital, Muscat, Atalanta said.

The cargo ship was transporting feed for cattle for a Chinese company and was en route from Iran to China, Cuong said.

"We expect Somali pirates to understand that the cargo ship is owned by a Vietnamese company, a poor country, so they will not ask for ransom," Cuong said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363507,arabian-sea-summary.html.