Still unclear who the sailor is from hijacked Ruen ship moved to Indian stealth warship for medical treatment

It's still unclear who the sailor is on board the hijacked merchant vessel Ruen who was transferred from the ship to receive medical assistance.

Last night, it emerged that one of the Bulgarians on board was transferred to an Indian stealth warship and later admitted to hospital. It is not known at this time exactly why the medical evacuation was necessary.

Commenting on the issue of the hijacked ships "Ruen" and "Galaxy Leader", which had Bulgarian sailors on board, Prime Minister Denkov said that the government was working for a favourable outcome, but he did not give details.

There is no information about the sailor's health condition and the reasons for his evacuation.

“The Ruen ship is currently off the coast of Somalia - in Murqanyo, in the separatist region of Puntland. The Bulgarian sailor was evacuated from the ship in the early hours of 18 December with the permission of the pirate group that hijacked the vessel. He was transported to the Indian warship Kochi, which was in the area, examined there and, at the discretion of medics, placed in a medical facility.

The situation confirms the assumptions that the Bulgarian merchant ship is a victim of Somali pirates and not the Houthis, who have political demands.

The evacuation of the Bulgarian sailor from the Ruen came four days after the ship was attacked in the waters off Somalia. At the time, the Navigation Maritime Bulgare, the owner of the Ruen, said that according to their data there was no immediate threat to the crew.

The hijacking of the ship took place before the point at which armed security could be hired, and so far there is no information that the hijackers have contacted anyone with specific demands.

Alexander Kalchev, the director of Navigation Maritime Bulgare, explained that when a sick person is on board there are certain procedures that are followed by all legally sailing ships.

"There are specific procedures, international, written in the radio signal books - specific signals and so on and so forth. Absolutely everything is standardised, like in the army," explains Alexander Kalchev, executive director of the Navigation Maritime Bulgare.

However, this does not apply in the event of a pirate attack.

At the moment, Navigation Maritime Bulgare does not provide more information on why the evacuation was necessary and how it was arranged.

Bulgarian EU Commissioner Iliana Ivanova did not directly answer whether the EU would engage in an international mission to secure shipping in the Red Sea.

"We have competent colleagues on these issues - the High Representative, my colleague Borrell, who deals with the issues, so I would not like to comment," she said.

Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov said that the government was closely following the two cases in which Bulgarian sailors had been kidnapped - on the ships Galaxy Leader and Ruen.

"There are always risks when a ship is hijacked. We have a connection in both cases with people and institutions that are nearby. So we are working as much as we can to help bring about a successful outcome in both cases," the Prime Minister said.

Currently, 17 sailors remain on board the Ruen ship - seven Bulgarians, nine from Myanmar and one from Angola.

Three ships from the Indian, Spanish and Japanese navies are close to the Ruen and are monitoring the situation.

Because of the increased attacks by pirates and Houthis in the area, more and more companies are announcing that they will avoid crossing the Red Sea. This means bypassing the whole of Africa and extending the voyage by about 10 days, raising fears of further instability for world shipping.

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