South Korea rescues 21 sailors abducted by Somali pirates

[News_Editor]

South Korea rescues 21 sailors abducted by Somali pirates

2011-01-22 04:54:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

INDIAN OCEAN (BNO NEWS) -- Souith Korean Special Forces on Friday rescued 21 sailors of a freighter seized by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean last Saturday, the Korea Herald newspaper reported.

The rescue operation lasted five hours and was codenamed "Operation Dawn in the Gulf of Aden." The rescue began at about 10:00 a.m. local time approximately 1,314 kilometers from Somalia.

South Korean troops successfully rescued all 21 crewmembers and captured five Somali pirates. In addition, eight suspects were shot dead. Only the 58-year-old captain of the Samho Jewelry suffered abdominal gunshot wounds, but was reported in stable condition.

No casualties were reported by the South Korean Special Forces. The 11,500-ton freighter, Samho Jewelry, was carrying eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 Myanmarese.

The vessel was sailing in the Arabian Sea between Oman and India. It was heading to Sri Lanka from the United Arab Emirates when Somali pirates armed with machine guns and rifles seized the freighter.

This was the first military rescue operation against Somali pirates executed by South Korea. The Samho Jewelry and the destroyer Choi Young, which carried out the operation, are heading to a port in Salalah, Oman, and will return to South Korea next week.

"The military operation showed our strong resolve not to tolerate any illegal activities by pirates targeting South Korean vessels," said Lieut. Gen. Lee Sung-ho, director of the military operation support team.

The successful operation was also praised by South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak who also commended the Special Forces troops for their efforts. South Korea vowed not to negotiate with pirates or pay them any ransom.

"Our military conducted a perfect operation under difficult circumstances. I praise and encourage them. What is the most important for us is the life and safety of our citizens. We will not tolerate any action that threatens our citizens," said the Korean leader.

This was the eight South Korean vessel seized by Somali pirates. In 2006, a South Korean fishing vessel was captured by pirates. Since then, the Asian country has joined international efforts to disrupt piracy off the Somali coast.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-01-22

[hagler]

The Koreans have the right idea. Send a strong message and the Somalis' wont go anywhere near Korean ships from now on. Smart move.

[Ulysses G.]

Agreed. Kick butt and take names!

[brahmburgers]

Way to go! My hat is off to Korean Navy. Now what's being done to kick the pirates' butts where they live - literally. They reside in small town along the coast. Recently, a young Danish reporter went and interviewed many of the pirate heads at their houses. If one farang can find their houses, then how difficult can it be for some special forces to go in there and kick ass, and/or make arrests? Somalia has no effective government and practically no police or armed services, so it's essentially as easy as planning and executing a lightning assault on the pirates home turf. At the least, there could be a strike to sink all the boats along the Somali coast. Ok, many fishermen's boats would get sunk, but that just tough tamales - and would make the message sink in for all coastal Somalians: support piracy, and suffer the consequences.

[HaruHaru]

Kudos to the Koreans! If they're still as tough as they were in Vietnam (I ran into them in II Corps), the 5 dooshbags who survived will soon wish that they hadn't!