In yet another display of its muscular tactics against Somali pirates, the Indian Navy has intercepted and is shadowing the 41,600-dwt Ruen (built 2016) — a vessel that made a surprising reappearance in the Indian Ocean three months after its hijacking.
The action has thwarted attempts by the pirates to use the vessel as a mother ship to attack other vessels underway in the region, the Indian Navy said in a social media post on Saturday.
“The pirates on board the vessel have been called upon to surrender [and] release the vessel [and] any civilians they may be holding against their will,” the navy spokesman said.
There is no sign yet, however, that the Ruen’s captors have complied with the Indian demand or that they have any intention to.
Footage released by the navy shows one gunman on deck firing against what appears to be a helicopter hovering over the ship.
The Indian Navy said it is using “minimal force necessary to neutralise the pirates’ threat to shipping and seafarers”.
This is probably because any attempt to forcefully board the Ruen might put at risk the lives of the Ruen’s crew, the whereabouts of which are unknown.
When the ship was hijacked on 14 December, it had 18 seafarers from Bulgaria, Myanmar and Angola on board. One injured senior officer was released soon after the ship’s capture.
The Ruen was understood to have been sailed to near Eyl, Somalia, where it anchored.
In a surprising development on 14 March, however, maritime security firms reported that the ship was seen in the open Indian Ocean, about 160 nautical miles (300 km) southeast of Eyl.
Fears have been expressed since then that given the lack of a ransom deal with the vessel’s owner Navibulgar, the pirates would exploit the Ruen as a pirate ship itself.
The Bulgarian company has not responded to an email request for comment.
Muscular approach
The hijacking of the Ruen marked the return of Somali piracy after several years.
Somali pirates have also attacked several fishing boats in the Indian Ocean in recent weeks, probably in an attempt to use them later as mother boats for raids on larger vessels.
The Indian Navy has taken a leading role in thwarting such attempts.
In January, Indian special forces captured pirates engaged in fishing boat hijackings and foiled another assault on a bigger ship — the 170,100-dwt Lila Norfolk (built 2006).
The Indian Navy said on Friday that it was shadowing another bulker captured by suspected Somali pirates off Mogadishu this week — the 58,000-dwt Abdullah (built 2015).
An Indian warship has stayed close to the Abdullah, which has 23 Bangladeshi nationals on board, until it entered Somali territorial waters.
