Society

Hijacked ship crew safe after rescue

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-29 06:54

Chinese naval fleet will escort ship to safer waters, ministry says

All 25 members of a crew manning the Chinese bulk carrier De Xin Hai, which was hijacked by Somali pirates more than three months ago in the Indian Ocean, were successfully rescued early yesterday morning, Xinhua has reported.

A Chinese naval fleet will escort the ship to safer waters and the vessel will return to China after a medical checkup of the all-Chinese crew and supply of essential provisions, the nation's Foreign Ministry said.

Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the government has conveyed its greetings to the rescued hostages and their families.

The bulk carrier, which belongs to Qingdao Ocean Shipping Co Ltd, was carrying about 76,000 tons of coal from South Africa to India when it was hijacked on Oct 19, 650 km northeast of the Seychelles and 1,300 km off the east coast of Somalia.

The shipping company's spokesperson said 22 members of the crew are from Shandong province, while the other three are from Liaoning, Hebei and Jiangsu provinces.

This was the first time that a Chinese ship had fallen into the hands of pirates in the Indian Ocean, China Daily had reported earlier.

In previous hijacking cases that involved Chinese ships or Chinese crew, either the vessels were registered in foreign countries or foreign companies had employed the members of the crew.

In the case of De Xin Hai, the ship was registered in China and all members on board were Chinese.

The government had launched an "emergency response procedure" immediately after the hijacking, and Chinese embassies and consulates were instructed to work together to review information about the incident.

During the early stages of the negotiations, the pirates had threatened to execute the hostages if a rescue operation was carried out.

On Sunday, the Foreign Ministry again reminded Chinese vessels and personnel to stay away from dangerous sea lanes and take precautionary measures.

The Ministry of Transport has also asked Chinese shipping vessels and crew to strengthen protective measures to prevent attacks by pirates.

The De Xin Hai case was the first reported hijacking of a coal vessel by Somali pirates, according to Indian coal traders. The incident could signal that the pirates have started targeting other coal carriers, as these dry bulk vessels are smaller and have relatively fewer crew.

"This shows that the pirates are expanding their operations," an official of the China Shipowners' Association said in Beijing. "The Indian Ocean is too big to defend. The Gulf of Aden is a more limited area."

China Daily had reported earlier that a Chinese naval flotilla had been deployed to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia less than two weeks after the hijacking to protect merchant vessels against pirates.

The flotilla of the People's Liberation Army Navy was the fourth task force of its kind that China had sent to the region since the end of 2008.

The Navy's political commissar Liu Xiaojiang said the warships would actively take part in international humanitarian rescue missions.

According to the latest figures from the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center, 324 pirate attacks took place worldwide as of Oct 20 this year, with a total of 37 vessels hijacked and 639 hostages taken.

The number of attacks almost doubled compared to the previous year, which saw 194 attacks, 36 ships seized and 631 people captured.

Of the 324 incidents this year, attacks by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia numbered 174, with 35 vessels hijacked and 587 members of the crew taken as hostages.

Warships from the European Union, the United States and other powers now patrol the waters, but pirates have shifted their attacks farther offshore.

China Daily