The Indian navy posted a photo of its personnel with the captured hijackers.Image:INDIAN NAVY
Pakistani sailors are rescued from pirates by the Indian Navy.
Nineteen Pakistani fishermen were saved by Indian navy troops after pirates commandeered their fishing boat on the coast of Somalia.
The Indian destroyer INS Sumitra conducted its second rescue mission in less than 36 hours.
According to the navy, the ship had saved the 17-person Iranian crew of a different ship that the pirates had taken over hours earlier.
Over the past two weeks, India’s navy has reacted to multiple distress calls from ships and personnel.
Concerns have been raised about the possibility of pirate activity returning to the area due to recent attacks on vessels off the coast of Somalia.
For maritime security operations in the Gulf of Aden and along Somalia’s east coast, INS Sumitra has been sent out.
According to a navy statement, on January 28, the ship intercepted a vessel flying the Iranian flag after responding to a distress call.
A message on X (previously Twitter) stated that after that, naval officers “coerce[d] the pirates for safe release of crew along with the boat”.
Following the liberation of the seventeen crew members, the ship was cleaned and given permission to resume its voyage. The pirates’ status was not mentioned in the announcement.
According to the navy, INS Sumitra was once more “pressed into action to locate and intercept another Iranian-flagged fishing vessel Al Naeemi” on Tuesday.
It further stated that members of the Navy entered the ship to sanitise it and make sure everyone on board was okay.
The pirates’ status was not discussed once more, but a picture that was shared on X showed individuals with their wrists tied behind their backs being guarded by armed Navy soldiers.
Six fishermen from Sri Lanka were saved on Saturday by Seychelles defence personnel after their boat was taken over.
A Bloomberg story claims that the Houthis, a rebel group backed by Iran, have attacked several ships in the Red Sea, disrupting maritime security and contributing to the rise in piracy off the coast of Somalia.
The tanker Marlin Luanda, which had connections to the UK, was on fire for several hours after being struck by a missile fired by the Houthis.
The Indian Navy claimed on January 26 that it had responded to the distress call by deploying its destroyer, INS Visakhapatnam, in the Gulf of Aden.
The ship also received assistance from US and French naval vessels.
Additionally, earlier in January, Indian naval commandos saved the lives of twenty-one crew members from a ship flying the flag of Liberia that was ambushed by pirates off the coast of Somalia.