On Jan. 21, 2011, South Korean Navy’s special forces agents raided a hijacked Korean freighter, an unprecedented rescue operation that freed all 21 crew members while killing eight Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea.

And the Navy LCDR Kang Tae-yeol, a helicopter pilot, was the first to reach the ship, the 11,500-ton Samho Jewelry. As he recalled the operation about a year later, Kang said a shivering moment came to his mind.

“When the operation was underway, I arrived at the scene first to cover our Underwater Demolition Team agents,” Kang said in a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency. “And when the pirates readied themselves to fire at our troops, it was quite scary.”

He was the commanding officer of the Lynx helicopter section at the Cheonghae Unit, which had been operating in the Gulf of Aden as part of an international anti-piracy mission since 2009. The rescue operation was code-named “Dawn of the Gulf of Aden.”

Kang, 39, joined the Cheonghae Unit in December 2010, and returned home in May last year. Now based at a helicopter unit in Jinhae, about 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Kang flew the Lynx on the 4,500-ton destroyer Choi Young during his service with Cheonghae.

Kang said he first heard about the hijacking on Jan. 15. After the Choi Young reached the Arabian Sea, Kang flew above the waters around the Samho Jewelry on his Lynx in reconnaissance missions, checking on any unusual activities by pirates aboard.

“Until the day of the operation, I flew out about 10 times to monitor the situation,” Kang said. “I blocked a suspect pirate ship from going toward the Samho Jewelry.”

The rescue operation got underway at dawn on Jan. 21. Kang reached the Samho Jewelry before any Navy troops. As he urged the Samho Jewelry crew to stay safe, the Choi Young started firing.

“We fooled the pirates and kept firing at them,” Kang recalled.

“I provided the aerial cover so that the pirates couldn’t attack our agents.”

Pirates, caught by surprise, were scattered about, but a few took Seok Hae-kyun, the Samho Jewelry captain, and a few crew members hostage.

It could have been a potentially fatal situation. But ultimately, only Seok suffered gunshot wounds, from which he later recovered, while other members escaped unscathed. Three soldiers sustained light scratches on their bodies.

As nerve-wracking as it was, Kang said he had a rather straightforward goal.

“It was actually a simple situation,” he said. “The mission was to safely rescue the crew and protect our troops.”

He said moments leading up to the operation were even more difficult to handle.

“We were overwhelmed with information and orders from our command center, and all of us were all so wound up,” Kang said.

“For the six days between the time we learned of the hijacking and the start of the operation, I slept maybe seven hours total. But looking back, there was no regret.”

He said he reached deep inside himself to complete the mission a year ago.

“I was most pleased with the fact that we were all able to rescue our people safely,” Kang said. “That joy will last me a lifetime.” 

(Yonhap News)