Indian navy says intercepted hijacked vessel close to Somalia
by AFP Employees Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Mar 29, 2024
India’s navy mentioned Friday it intercepted a fishing vessel within the Arabian Sea after a suspected hijacking, its newest anti-piracy operation after a spate of regional assaults on delivery.
Two Indian vessels had approached the Iranian-flagged FV Al Kamar 786 round 165 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of the Yemeni island of Socotra, not removed from the jap tip of Somalia.
An operation was “at present underway by the Indian Navy in direction of rescue of hijacked FV & its crew,” the navy mentioned in an announcement posted on X, previously Twitter.
The assertion added that 9 armed pirates have been believed to have taken over the vessel. It didn’t say what number of crew members have been aboard.
India’s navy has been deployed repeatedly off Somalia since 2008.
It stepped up anti-piracy efforts final 12 months following a surge in maritime assaults, together with within the Arabian Sea and by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels within the Purple Sea.
This month, the Indian navy rescued 19 crew members off the Maltese-flagged cargo ship MV Ruen, which had been hijacked by Somali pirates in December.
On Saturday, it introduced 35 Somali nationals accused of the hijacking to Mumbai aboard the warship INS Kolkata, which had led the rescue operation, to face a piracy trial in an Indian courtroom.
Associated Hyperlinks
