Thursday, May 6, 2010

Russians storm hijacked tanker...free captive crew

Here's an update to #1 Infidel's post earlier about the Russian dispatching a warship to free the Russian tanker from Somali pirates.

Russian special forces successfully rescued the Russian crew and in the process killed one pirate and arrested 10 others. Tampa Bay Online

ABOARD THE SWEDISH WARSHIP CARLSKRONA (AP) -- Russian special forces rappelled onto a disabled oil tanker taken over by Somali pirates and freed 23 Russian sailors early Thursday, the commander of the EU Naval Force said. Ten pirates were arrested and one was killed.

The raid on the Liberian-flagged ship Moscow University came 24 hours after pirates had taken the ship over and the crew locked itself in a safe room. The vessel is carrying 86,000 tons of crude oil worth about $50 million.

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

Special forces troops on the helicopter rappelled down to the Moscow University, Rear Adm. Jan Thornqvist, force commander of the EU Naval Force, told an Associated Press reporter aboard the warship Carlskrona, which on Thursday was 500 miles (800 kilometers) west of Thursday's rescue and was sailing toward Somali waters.

1 comment:

#1 infidel said...

That didn't take long !