Chinese Navy Rescues Tuvaluan Cargo Ship in Gulf of Aden

Chinese Navy successfully rescued a Tuvaluan cargo ship, which is under protection at the moment, from pirates in Gulf of Aden Sunday morning.

The navy said in a statement that its 25th convoy fleet, which was conducting the escort mission in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somali at the time, received report of the hijack of the ship OS35 at around 17:00 Saturday. The fleet's vessel Yulin set out for the area immediately.

The vessel used infrared equipment to scout the hijacked ship and soon got the information of its structure, figuring out a thorough plan for the rescue.

In the small hours on Sunday, 16 soldiers launched the operation with the assistance of a helicopter hovering above and successfully rescued 19 sailors from the cargo ship.

"After boarding the ship, we commandos soon controlled the deck and occupied the commanding height, forming a fire net to control the forecastle. Having ensured that there are no pirate threat, each team cooperated closely and covered for each other on the way to safety cabin, rescuing sailors who have been trapped for more than ten hours. With the captain's assistance we checked each cabin on each floor from the top to the bottom," said Zeng Xiaosong, team leader of the 25th convoy fleet commandos.

"During the operation, we safely and quickly controlled the cargo ship, pressed ahead with the rescue action meticulously and completely lifted the pirate threat. We always put the sailors' safety at the first place," said Zhao Lang, probationary commander of the 25th convoy fleet.

Chinese Navy has dispatched 26 batches of vessels in Gulf of Aden since 2008, successfully escorting a total of 6,337 ships. The 26th convoy fleet left a naval port in Zhoushan City of east China's Zhejiang Province on April 1 to replace the 25th.