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By Sunny Lee
BEIJING — A South Korean cargo vessel, which was being chased by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, was rescued by the Chinese navy, China’s state media said.
The CS DAISY was being pursued by multiple speed boats late in the afternoon on Feb. 10, according to the state-run Liberation Army Daily, which reported the incident first.
The vessel radioed for help from a nearby Chinese naval escort group, which dispatched a ship-borne helicopter to protect the Korean ship from pirates until it sailed out of the danger zone, the report said.
An official at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing confirmed the news. A foreign ministry official in Seoul also verified the episode, adding all the crewmembers on the CS DAISY were safe.
The Chinese goodwill operation in the pirate-prone Gulf of Aden came as South Korea was occupied by the case of the 11,500-ton freighter Samho Jewelry, hijacked a month ago by pirates in the same seas off the Somali coast. South Korean naval commandos successfully rescued all 21 crewmembers onboard and retook the freighter.
It is not immediately clear how many crewmembers were onboard the CS DAISY at the time of the incident. The pirates were armed with automatic guns and rocket propelled grenades, the report said.
The naval group was able to offer help to the cargo vessel as the former had just completed its own escort mission earlier in the day and was in the vicinity.
It instructed the frigate Xuzhou, about 40 nautical miles away from the scene of the incident, to act. A helicopter took off from the warship and reached the Korean ship within 20 minutes.
While hovering over the merchant ship, the helicopter sent warnings to the pirate boats as the cargo vessel continued to move away from the pirates.
Although South Korea and China are part of a multinational anti-piracy patrol in the area, the goodwill rescue mission by China was refreshing, given the strained ties the two neighbor countries experienced last year over their differences on how to deal with North Korea.
After the successful mission, the South Korean Navy ship in the region sent a message of appreciation to its Chinese counterpart.
중국 해군 해적에 쫓기던 한국 상선 구출
중국 해군이 아덴만에서 해적에 쫓기던 한국 상선을 구출했다고 중국국영언론이 보도했다.
"CS DAISY"호는 2월 10일 오후 여러 대의 해적 쾌속선에 쫓기던 중 인근에 있던 중국 해군 호위함대들 호출했다고 "해방군보"가 최초로 보도했다.
중국 해군은 해상 헬리콥터를 파견, 한국 선박이 위험지대에서 벗어날 때까지 해적으로부터 선박을 보호해준 것으로 전해졌다.
베이징 소재 한국 대사관은 이 사실을 확인했으며, 한국 외교부 관계자들도 CS DAISY호의 모든 승무원들이 안전하다며 이 사실을 확인했다.
사건 당시 CS DAISY호에 몇 명의 승무원이 있었는지는 아직 불분명하다. 해적들은 자동 소총과 로켓 추진식 수류탄을 소지하고 있었던 것으로 알려졌다.
지난해 북한 문제로 한중 관계가 서먹한 상태에서 벌어진 이번 `선의’의 작전이 양국 관계 개선에 일조할 것으로 기대된다.
작전 후 이 지역에 있던 한국 해군 함정이 중국 해군에 감사의 편지를 전한 것으로 알려졌다.
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