A hijacked Chinese cargo ship and 25 sailors were rescued yesterday, two months after they were seized by pirates off the lawless Somali coast, Chinese state media said.
Xinhua news agency said the ship and crew were now under the protection of a Chinese naval fleet after an early morning rescue, but would not say if the ship was retaken by force or if a ransom was paid.
Once pirates are aboard a targeted vessel, naval forces do not usually try to intervene for fear of hostages being killed or wounded. Ransoms are commonly paid to free the captured ships.
The ship, De Xin Hai, was the first Chinese vessel to be hijacked since China deployed a three-ship squadron to the Gulf of Aden last year, joining Britain, India, Iran, the US, France and other countries in anti-piracy patrols.
The De Xin Hai, owned by Qingdao Ocean Shipping, was carrying about 76,000 tonnes of coal from South Africa to India when it was seized Oct. 19 about 1,100km east of the Somali coastline.
Pirate attacks in the area nearly doubled this year over a year earlier, despite the deployment in December last year of the EU Naval Force — the first international force specifically to counter Somali pirates.
Somali pirates currently hold at least 10 vessels and more than 200 crew members for ransom.
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