Sana’a: Sunatimes: Naval forces of Yemen rescued a Yemeni owned ship from Somali pirates yesterday after the ship was hijacked.

Navy officials on patrol in Yemen waters responded to the pirate attack, who wanted to hijack the ship before it had left Yemeni waters. The ship was 3 KM past Mayun Island of Yemen, which is 170 KM away from the Jabal sheikh settlement in Aden town.

Yemen’s navy officials in the Gulf of Aden said that the pirates were in 4 small boats when they attacked the ship and that they tried to force the ship to head toward the Somali coast.

The pirates are reported to have been 24 in number and they boarded each small boat with a group of six men armed with AK 47 rifles and hand grenades. Navy officials on patrol, and some who were on board the ship, fought and defeated the pirates in a shootout that lasted for less than 5 minutes.

Management of the ship explained that the guards on the ship as well as the navy officials who came to rescue them were not injured in the shoot out.

By Radio bar-kulan