Hijacked Tanker Freed in 22-Minute Gunfight

Russian marines on Thursday freed a Russian oil tanker hijacked by Somali pirates a day earlier in the Arabian Sea in a 22-minute gunfight that saw one pirate killed and 10 others arrested. The 23 Russian sailors on the Moscow University tanker — who cut power to the vessel and spent the 20-hour ordeal holed up in the engine room — emerged unharmed, a Navy spokeswoman told The Moscow Times. President Dmitry Medvedev praised the marines for their quick and professional work and ordered that they be decorated with state medals. He promised that the captured pirates would be punished “under the full force of naval law,” Interfax reported.

Russian officials have not decided whether to bring the detained pirates to Moscow or hand them over for trial to an African court. The state-owned tanker was attacked about 350 nautical miles from Socotra, Yemen, in what was the first hijacking of a Russian-owned ship with a Russian crew in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of lawless Somalia. Communication with the ship ceased at 8 a.m. Wednesday Moscow time, when the captain radioed that two boats carrying gunmen had approached the ship and opened fire. The pirates had warned against any rescue attempt, saying they were holding the crew members hostage and taking the tanker to the Somali coast.