In another bold operation in the Arabian Sea, the Indian Navy warship INS Sumitra rescued 19 Pakistani crew members of an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel Al Naeemi from armed Somali pirates.
As many as 11 Somali pirates hijacked the fishing vessel and its 19 crew members.
Pirates boarded the FV Al Naeemi and took its entire crew hostage. The Indian Navy said in a statement that INS Sumitra responded quickly to the development and intercepted the FV on January 29. The Indian warship ensured the safe release of the crew and vessel through a coercive posture and effective deployment of its overall assistance and vessels, it said in a statement.
The ship conducted a confirmed boarding, disinfected the FV and checked the health of the crew members held by the pirates.
Just yesterday, the Indian Navy’s indigenous offshore patrol ship INS Sumitra rescued 17 crew members of another Iranian-flagged fishing vessel MV Iman, which was hijacked by Somali pirates 700 nautical miles west of Cochin in the Arabian Sea.
Indian Defense Ministry officials said that the ALH Dhruv helicopter on board the Indian Navy warship had surrounded the hijacked ship and issued a warning to the pirates who hijacked the ship.
The Sumitra safely rescued everyone on board the fishing vessel and disarmed the pirates, requesting that they proceed to Somalia.
FV Iman was disinfected and released to continue transit. ,
Within 36 hours, INS Sumitra rescued two hijacked fishing boats and 36 crew members (17 Iranians and 19 Pakistanis) in the South Arabian Sea, about 850 nautical miles west of Kochi. Through persistent efforts, Indian Navy warships prevented these fishing vessels from being misused as mother ships to carry out further acts of piracy against commercial vessels.
The statement said that the Indian Navy has once again demonstrated its commitment to act against all maritime threats in the region to ensure the safety of all seafarers and vessels at sea.
On January 28, the Navy deployed the guided-missile destroyer Visakhapatnam in the Gulf of Aden to assist in extinguishing a fire on a Marshall Islands-flagged ship with 22 Indian crew members on board.
Indian Navy spokesman Commander Vivek Madhwal said that the Indian Navy’s fire brigade along with the crew of the Marshall Islands ship worked for six hours to successfully control the fire.
India has received international praise for its timely rescue of a commercial oil tanker hit by a missile in the Gulf of Aden.
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