A crew member was injured when pirates hijacked a freighter from the northern German port of Hamburg off the east African country of Somalia.
The incident occurred on Thursday evening in the Indian Ocean around 700 kilometres east of the Somali capital Mogadishu, the EU naval operation Atalanta said on Friday.
A warship patrolling nearby rushed to the rescue and freed the Liberian-flagged multi-purpose freighter Basilisk.
The 17 crew members are safe, the Atalanta operation command said on Friday in Rota, Spain. The injured crew member is in a stable condition.
The cargo ship, which is around 160 metres long, belongs to the Hamburg-based Minship shipping company.
According to the Atalanta command, it was travelling north at the time of the attack. After the warship arrived, marines abseiled onto the freighter from a helicopter.
Pirate attacks are frequent in this sea area. An EU multinational naval mission has been patrolling the area since 2008 to secure the important shipping route.