China’s Somali pirate-catching commando gets a hero’s welcome back home
Leader of elite Dragon Commando unit honoured for his bravery in the Gulf of Aden last year
A Chinese navy officer who led a mission last year to rescue a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden, which also resulted in the capture of three pirates, has been honoured as a hero in his home city, according to local media reports.
Gong Kaifeng was visited by the vice-mayor of Fuzhou, in eastern China’s Jiangxi province, on Wednesday, and praised for his achievements on the high seas, news website Thecover.cn reported.
In April, Gong and 15 of his colleagues from Dragon Commando – the name given to the navy’s special forces unit – boarded the Tuvalu-flagged cargo ship OS35 after it had sent out a distress call.
The mission was the first of its kind by a Chinese team against Somali pirates, the report said.
