The crew of a hijacked mainland cargo ship were yesterday praised for their bravery and quick thinking in helping thwart a hijacking by Somali pirates off the southern coast of Iran.
The Iranian Navy rescued all 28 crew late on Friday, less than nine hours after the Panamanian-registered Xianghuamen, owned by the Nanjing Ocean Shipping Company, was seized 20 nautical miles south of the Iranian port of Chabahar.
The crew were able to disconnect the ship's power supply before the AK-47-wielding hijackers overran the ship, preventing it from being taken away.
The ship's captain and five crew later evaded their captors and slipped overboard, swimming about two nautical miles to the Iranian Navy ship where they raised the alarm, China National Radio said.
'China's ambassador in Tehran, Yu Hongyang, has been in touch with the crew and congratulated them on their safe rescue on behalf of the central committee of the China Communist Party, the State Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,' the Chinese embassy said in Tehran.
The Xianghuamen sailed from Shanghai with a cargo of steel and unspecified equipment. After unloading some of its cargo in Singapore, it was bound for Port Khomeini when it was hijacked by the nine Somali pirates in the Gulf of Oman.
Yu told Xinhua that the pirates approached the ship in several speedboats while firing their guns. 'The pirates used their own ladders to climb aboard and take the 28 crew hostage,' Yu said.