Cargo ship under monitoring after being hijacked in Arabian Sea

The European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) is continuing its monitoring of a commercial vessel after it was boarded by pirates in the Arabian Sea late last week.

The Maltese-flagged bulk carrier Ruen, which had earlier left the port of Gwangyang in South Korea with a cargo of metal, was hijacked in the Arabian Sea on the morning (local time) of Thursday, December 14, as confirmed by its captain.

The Spanish Navy frigate Victoria, operating as the EUNAVFOR flagship, was directed to rapidly close to Ruen to gather more information and evaluate further actions, in coordination with the Somali local authorities and other security partners in the region.

During the early hours of Friday, December 15, an Indian maritime patrol plane spotted Ruen and established radio communications with the crew.

According to the information received, the 18 crewmembers were safe and locked up in the citadel. Hours later, however, the perpetrators managed to break into the citadel and extracted the crew.

In the early hours of Sunday, December 16, the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force destroyer JS Akebono, under the Combined Maritime Forces (Combined Task Force 151) command, and the Indian Navy destroyer INS Kochi arrived in the vicinity of the hijacked ship, joining Victoria. Since then, continuous exchanges of information and coordination efforts have been performed regularly.

An unmanned aerial vehicle from Victoria is also being deployed as part of the surveillance operation on Ruen.

In the early morning of Monday, December 18, a crewmember on Ruen was evacuated to the Indian Navy destroyer to receive medical care.

EUNAVFOR added that the medical team on board Victoria remains available in case its assistance will be necessary.

Ruen has since sailed into the waters less than 10 nautical miles off Somalia’s northern coast.

EUNAVFOR was still tracking the vessel’s movements as of Tuesday, December 19.