Sofia: Bulgarian President Rumen Radev on Monday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed his gratitude for the Indian Navy after it carried out a major rescue operation on the hijacked cargo ship named MV Ruen. The rescue operation was successfully carried out by the Indian Navy in the Arabian Sea on Friday. The President Radev took to X account and said, “My sincere gratitude to PM @narendramodi for the brave action of Indian Navy rescuing the hijacked Bulgarian ship “Ruen” and its crew, including 7 Bulgarian citizens.” Notably, the Indian Navy soldiers rescued 17 people from the ship, out of 17 seven were Bulgarian nationals.
My sincere gratitude to PM @narendramodi for the brave action of
Navy rescuing the hijacked Bulgarian ship “Ruen” and its crew, including 7 Bulgarian citizens.
— President.bg (@PresidentOfBg) March 18, 2024
Before the Bulgarian President, Foreign Affairs Minister Mariya Gabriel on Sunday thanked Indian Navy for the its valour and conducting a successful rescue operation. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar responded to Gabriael’s expression of gratitude on X.
Responding to his Bulgarian counterpart, EAM Jaishankar wrote, “That’s what friends are for.”
It is worth noting that, Indian Navy warship named INS Kolkata successfully pushed back all 35 Somali pirates and rescued safe evacuation of 17 crew members on Saturday in the Arabian Sea.
On Sunday, the Indian Navy intercepted MV Ruen and told the Somali pirates to surrender. The operation was carried out by the Indian Navy, Marine Commando Force – MARCOS. The commandoes boarded the vessel and rescued people.
INS Kolkata had carried out the interception of the Pirate Ship Ruen almost 1,400 nm (2,600km) from the Indian Coast and forced the pirate ship to stop through calibrated actions which were augmented by INS Subhadra, HALE RPA, P8I maritime patrol aircraft and MARCOS PRAHARs air-dropped by C-17 aircraft,” Indian Navy statement read.