Indian Navy carries out second anti-piracy ops off Somalia coast

New Delhi: In another rescue operation in less than 36 hours, the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sumitra thwarted a hijack attempt off the East Coast of Somalia and saved 19 Pakistani crew members and the vessel. This comes a day after INS Sumitra thwarted the
Piracy attempt on the Iranian Fishing Vessel (FV) Iman off the Somalia coast. Indian Navy informed on Tuesday that INS Sumitra has carried out yet another successful anti-piracy operation rescuing FVAl Naeemi and her Crew (19 Pakistani Nationals) from 11 armed Somali Pirates INS Sumitra, Indian Navy’s indigenous Offshore Patrol Vessel had been deployed for Anti-Piracy and Maritime Security
Operations East of Somalia and Gulf of Aden. The warship on PM 29 Jan 24 had responded to a distress message regarding the hijacking of an Iranian-flagged Fishing Vessel (FV) Iman, which had been boarded by pirates & the crew taken as hostages. The FV was intercepted by INS Sumitra and following the SOPs and coercive posturing the vessel and her Crew (17 Iranian Nationals) were safely rescued in the early hours of 29 Jan 24. FV Iman was sanitised and released for onward transit. Indian Navy said, “Subsequently, INS Sumitra was again pressed into action, to locate and intercept another Iranian flagged fishing vessel Al Naeemi, which had been boarded by pirates and her Crew (19 Pakistani Nationals) taken hostage. Responding swiftly to the developing situation Sumitra intercepted the FV on PM 29 Jan 24 and through coercive posturing and effective deployment of her integral helo and boats compelled the safe release of the crew and the vessel. The ship also undertook confirmatory boarding to sanitise and also to check on the well-being of the crew who were held captive by the Somali pirates.” INS Sumitra, over the course of less than 36 hours, through swift, persistent and relentless efforts has rescued two hijacked Fishing Vessels along with 36 Crew (17 Iranian and 19 Pakistani) in Southern Arabian Sea approximately 850 nm West of Kochi, and prevented misuse of these Fishing Vessels as Mother Ships for further acts of Piracy on Merchant Vessels, the Navy added. The Indian Navy has once again proved its commitment in the region to act against all maritime threats in order to ensure safety of all mariners and vessels at sea. Mission deployed Indian Naval ships on anti-piracy & Maritime Security Operations in the Indian Ocean Region symbolise Indian Navy’s resolve towards safety of all vessels and seafarers at sea. INS Sumitra, along with other warships and surveillance aircraft, was deployed into the region in the last week of December in response to the rise in maritime security incidents on merchant vessels transiting through international shipping lanes in Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Central/ North Arabian Sea, the Indian Navy has substantially enhanced maritime surveillance efforts in the Central/ North Arabian Sea and augmented force levels. It was Saturday, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Visakhapatnam extended help to a merchant vessel (MV) which had a fire accident onboard. The MV had 22 Indian and 01 Bangladeshi crew onboard. The overall deployment was enhanced after quick incidents of hijack and drone attacks were carried out which included targeting of MV Ruen and MV Chem Pluto. MV Ruen was hijacked and currently, she is docked off the Somalia coast while MV Chem Pluto sustained drone hits. The maritime domain awareness (MDA) deployment into the Arabian Sea was enhanced to 10 ships including the Navy’s missile destroyers, including INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, INS Mormugao, INS Chennai and INS Visakhapatnam. In addition to the warships, the Indian Navy has also deployed Boeing-made Boeing P8I multimission aircraft along with long endurance Sea Guardian drone to constantly survey the vessels in the Arabian Sea and up to the Gulf of Aden to identify suspicious ships. These assets have been pressed in to keep the sea lanes of communication between Bab el-Mandeb to the Indian coast safe for merchant shipping and missile attacks taking place in the Middle East.

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