Indian Navy warship INS Sumitra, on anti-piracy operations along the east coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, responded to a distress message regarding hijacking of an Iranian flagged Fishing Vessel (FV) Iman. The FV had been boarded by pirates and the crew taken as hostages.
“INS Sumitra intercepted the vessel, acted in accordance with the established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to coerce the pirates for safe release of crew along with the boat and ensured successful release of all 17 crew members along with the boat,” the Indian Navy said.
The ALH Dhruv helicopters on board the warship had encircled the hijacked vessel to issue warnings to the pirates on board it, said sources.
The fishing vessel was subsequently sanitised by Indian Navy’s personnel and released for onward transit.
“Mission deployed Indian Naval ships on anti-piracy and Maritime Security Operations in the Indian Ocean Region symbolise Indian Navy’s resolve towards the safety of all vessels and seafarers at sea,” said Indian Navy.
In the past month, the Indian Navy has been seeing a lot of action in the high seas due to the Houthis attack on merchant vessels in the Red Sea area and the activation of Somali pirates. Indian Navy has been helping merchant vessels hit by Houthis drones and missiles and coming to rescue of vessels hijacked by Somali pirates.
Indian Navy on January 5 had thwarted an attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea and rescued all its crew members.
Indian Navy has already enhanced the deployment of its frontline ships and surveillance aircraft for maritime security operations in view of the maritime environment in the critical sea lanes including in the North and Central Arabian Sea.
Indian Navy’s warship INS Visakhapatnam on Saturday extinguished a fire onboard a commercial oil tanker with 22 Indian crew when the vessel was struck by a missile in the Gulf of Aden. Earlier, INS Visakhapatnam had responded swiftly to a distress call by India bound Marshall Island flagged merchant ship MV Genco Picardy
which was attacked by drone around January 17. The merchant ship had 9 Indians among its 22 crew members.
The Liberian-flagged vessel MV Chem Pluto, with 21 Indian crew members, was also the target of a drone attack off India’s west coast on December 23.
