Pakistani Navy Rescues Stranded Iranian Fishermen off Yemen

This week, a Pakistani Navy warship rescued 23 Iranian fishermen who were adrift in the Gulf of Aden, the service reported Thursday. 

The frigate PNS Zulfiquar was under way off Yemen when it received a distress call from a fishing dhow, the Al Muhammadi. The dhow's crew reported that one of the fishermen had sustained serious injuries to his hand while attempting to fix the boat's engine, which had broken down. They were stranded and adrift, about 1,200 nautical miles from home. 

Zulfiquar rendezvoused with the Al Muhammadi and dispatched a small boat with an assistance team. They provided medical aid the victim, and they made the necessary repairs to the dhow's engine, allowing it to return to its voyage. 

In a statement, the service said that the encounter showed the Pakistani Navy's "unflinching resolve towards safety and security of seafarers plying the Indian Ocean."

Courtesy Pakistani Navy

It is not the first time that Pakistani forces have aided Iranian fishermen on the high seas. In March, the corvette PNS Yarmook responded to a distress call from a dhow that had caught fire at sea. The crew responded to the scene, rescued the crew and helped extinguish the blaze, earning recognition and praise from the Iranian government. 

PNS Zulfiquar is a 2009-built frigate designed and constructed by CSSC Hudong-Zhonghua, the Shanghai shipyard that constructs large warships for China's navy. The ship's history nearly took a disastrous turn in 2014, when an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell attempted to seize the vessel in shipyard and "use its missile systems to target a U.S. fleet." The uprising - which involved several Pakistani Navy personnel - was quickly put down by Pakistani special forces.