Russia/Somalia/Piracy: one pirate dead, 10 captured in Russian tanker rescue

RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday that one Somali pirate was killed and 10 captured in an armed rescue mission realised by military sailors from the Russian anti-submarine ship Marshal Shaposhnikov to free the Russian tanker MOSKOVSKIY UNIVERSITET hijacked by pirates off the coast of Yemen on Wednesday.

The Liberia-flagged and Russian operated oil tanker with 23 Russian crew members and 86,000 tons of oil was hijacked by Somali pirates on Wednesday around 8.00 am Moscow time (04:00 GMT), when it was sailing from the Red Sea to China.

According to navy officials, Russian sailors used helicopters and speedboats to chase the pirates. The pirates on board the tanker opened fire using small arms. One of the pirates was killed when Russian sailors returned fire. No one of the Russian sailors was injured during the gun battle. Russian sailors seized grenade launchers and the equipment used to board the tanker, ladder and grappling hooks from the pirates.