Multi-national escort taskforces jointly rescue Taiwan's merchant ship

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Multi-national escort taskforces jointly rescue Taiwan's merchant ship

(China Military Online) 09:26, October 09, 2013

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GULF OF ADEN, October 8 (ChinaMil) -- Taiwan's merchant ship "Guihua", which had cruised along with the destroyer "Wanggeon" of the Republic of Korea Navy, was unable to go on with its voyage due to a sudden failure at 10:20, local time, on the morning of October 1, 2013. Since the destroyer "Wanggeon" was assigned another mission and couldn't carry out the long-standing escort, the merchant ship "Guihua" immediately sought help from the 15th escort taskforce of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLAN) through the China Maritime Search and Rescue Centre (CMSRC).

After receiving the request, the 15th Chinese naval escort taskforce dispatched the guided missile frigate "Hengshui" to start out emergently from the west waters of the Gulf of Aden for the rescue.

In order to prevent the "Guihua" ship from harassment by pirates while drifting, the taskforce published timely the situation of the "Guihua" ship through the international anti-piracy network and coordinated actively with the Italian frigate "Libeccio" under the EU Combined Task Force 465 (CTF-465) to replace the destroyer "Wanggeon".

The guided missile frigate "Hengshui" rendezvoused with the "Guihua" ship at 11:00 on October 2 and escorted it to the Port of Aden in Yemen. The amphibious dock landing ship "Jinggangshan" of the 15th Chinese naval escort taskforce took over the "Hengshui" ship's escort job at 06:00 on October 4 and safely escorted the "Guihua" ship to arrive at the Port of Aden in Yemen at 04:00 on October 5.

According to Rear Admiral Jiang Zhonghua, commander of the 15th Chinese naval escort taskforce, for the time to come, the Chinese naval escort taskforce will continue to get extensive access to the dynamic information of international anti-piracy so as to strengthen international cooperation in escort and safeguard the security of the international maritime transport routes.

It is reported that the "Guihua" ship is a liquefied gas (LG) carrier owned by a plastics marine corporation in Taiwan and manned by the crew from Chinese mainland and Taiwan.

（Editor：YanMeng、Hongyu）