Bulgaria thanks Navy for rescuing hijacked ship

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 18

Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel has expressed gratitude to the Indian Navy for its successful rescue operation in the Arabian Sea that rid a hijacked merchant vessel of pirates and freed 17 crew members, including seven Bulgarians.

“That’s what friends are for,” replied External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to his Bulgarian counterpart’s post on X which said, “I express my gratitude to the Indian Navy for the successful operation to rescue the hijacked vessel, Ruen, and its crew members, including 7 Bulgarian nationals Thank you for support and great effort. We continue to work together to protect lives of the crew.”

The C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force had executed a precision airborne drop of two boats along with Navy MARCOS in the Arabian Sea on Saturday to rescue the crew and wrest back control of the ship which was hijacked by Somali pirates near the Yemeni island of Socotra. “Flying for almost 10 hours to an area 2,600 km off the Indian Coast, the operation was carried out to rescue crew of bulk carrier vessel MV Ruen,” the Indian Air Force had posted on X. The Navy had said in the rescue operation that lasted for 40 hours, INS Kolkata had blocked the passage of the hijacked ship.

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