ARLINGTON, Va. — A U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the USCGC Munro, and two British ships saved the crew of a Thai fishing vessel Thursday that had been hijacked by three Somali crewmembers in the Gulf of Aden Wednesday night, according to a March 18 Navy press release.

After learning from the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that the hijackers had taken over and were demanding an $800,000 ransom, crew from the Munro — with support from the HMS Invincible and HMS Nottingham — boarded the Thai-flagged Sirichai Nava 12 around noon on Thursday and freed the hostages.

The Munro is deployed to the region as part of Combined Task Force 150, a coalition maritime force working in the Horn of Africa, the North Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman.

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