WASHINGTON: US Navy Seals have rescued a hijacked oil tanker and freed 21 crew members, including six Pakistanis, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby said on Monday.

“No-one was hurt tonight when US forces, at the request of both the Libyan and Cypriot governments, boarded and took control of the commercial tanker “Morning Glory”, Admiral Kirby said in a statement released in Washington.

“Morning Glory” is a stateless vessel seized by three armed Libyans on March 11 near Port of Sidra, and was loaded with 200,000 barrels of oil when hijacked.

The crew included six Pakistanis: Mirza Noman Baig (Captain), Ghufran Marghoob Ahmed (Chief Officer), Syed Muhammad Mehdi Shamsi (2nd Officer), Syed Asif Hassan (3rd Officer), Naik Zada and Muhammad Irshad.

Other crew members included six Indians, three Sri Lankans, two Syrians, two Sudanese and two Eritreans.

The boarding operation, approved by President Barack Obama and conducted just after 10pm on March 16 in international waters southeast of Cyprus, was executed by a team of US Navy SEALs attached to Special Operations Command Europe, Admiral Kirby added.

The SEAL team embarked and operated from the guided missile destroyer USS Roosevelt which provided helicopter support and served as a command and control and support platform for the other members of the force assigned to conduct the mission.

The “Morning Glory” will soon return to a port in Libya with a team of sailors from the USS Stout embarked. The sailors will be supervising the transit.