Russians seize tanker from pirates

Published on Thursday 6 May 2010 22:08

RUSSIAN special forces abseiled on to an oil tanker taken over by Somali pirates and freed 23 Russian sailors yesterday, the commander of the EU Naval Force said. Ten pirates were arrested and one was killed.

The raid on the Liberian-flagged Moscow University came 24 hours after pirates had taken the ship over and crew members locked themselves in a safe room. The vessel is carrying 86,000 tons of crude oil worth about 33 million.

The special forces had been on the Russian anti-submarine destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov, which rushed to the scene after Wednesday's seizure by the pirates. A helicopter was sent and was fired on by the pirates, the EU Naval Force said. The Russian warship returned fire.

Special forces troops on the helicopter abseiled down to the deck, Rear Admiral Jan Thornqvist, commander of the EU Naval Force said.

Ten pirates were detained and one was killed, a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee said. Russian officials were last night preparing for the pirates to be taken to Moscow to face criminal charges.

The crew of the Moscow University had said they believed the pirates were trying to enter the engine room, the admiral said. The ship had been disabled and was not moving.

Safe rooms, where crews seek shelter, are typically stocked with food, water and communications equipment and have reinforced doors that can only be opened from the inside.

The ship's owner, Novoship, said the decision to free the ship was made knowing "the crew was under safe cover inaccessible to the pirates and that the lives and health of the sailors were not threatened."

Commander John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force, called the rescue "an excellent operation all round." He said the EU Naval Force had been working at a tactical level with the Russians, and that EU Naval Force personnel talked to the Russian crew by VHF radio.

It happened 500 miles east of the Somali coast as the Moscow University sailed from the Red Sea to China, the ship's owner said. Novoship is a subsidiary of state-owned Sovcomflot.

The military intervention follows a trend. International military forces have been more aggressively combating piracy. EU Naval Force ships are disrupting pirate groups and destroying their ships at a much higher rate than in previous years. US warships have fired back on pirates and destroyed their boats in several recent skirmishes.

However, pirates still hold more than 300 hostages taken from ships off East Africa.