Real-life pirate dramas play out almost every day off the Horn of Africa. The good guys came out on top in the latest to hit the high seas.
In an early morning raid Thursday, Russian commandos freed all 23 crew members who had been taken hostage aboard Liberian-flagged oil tanker The Moscow University. According to Russian officials, one pirate was killed and 10 others were captured.
The Moscow University’s crew had shut off the engines and locked themselves in a safe room less than 24 hours earlier when men in two small boats sped toward the massive tanker and opened fire. The ship, which was carrying more than $50 million worth of oil and drifting about 350 miles off the Yemeni island of Socotra, sent a distress call almost immediately.
According to ABC News, Russian destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov set a course for the tanker and sent a reconnaissance helicopter ahead, which was fired upon by the pirates. “The Russian warship, knowing the crew was locked down and safe, returned fire on the pirates,” the European Anti-Piracy Naval Task Force informed ABC News.
Commandos then boarded the ship, freeing the crew and apprehending the surviving pirates, who will stand trial in Moscow, according to the BBC.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised the crew of the warship on Thursday. “Fine fellows, well done, I ask you to prepare awards for all our servicemen who played a hand in accurately, professionally and quickly freeing the tanker,” he said in a meeting with Russia’s defense minister.
Thursday’s resolution is one of several happy endings to transpire in the vital shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman. It was just over a year ago when the US Navy freed all crewmembers of the Maersk Alabama in an elaborate sniper operation off the coast of Somalia.
Photo by U.S. Navy Cmdr. Michael Junge via Wikimedia Commons.
