All 21 crew, including Indians, aboard the cargo ship, ‘MV Lila Norfolk’, that was hijacked late last evening near the coast of Somalia have been rescued and are safe, said officials.
The elite commandos, MARCOS, sanitised the cargo ship and rescued the 15 Indians aboard the ship in the Arabian Sea. The commandos have confirmed the absence of hjijackers on the ship, said the Navy in a statement.
The hijacking was reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a British military organisation that tracks movements of various vessels in strategic waterways.
Naval warship INS Chennai, a navy destroyer, that was diverted from its anti-piracy patrol, launched its helicopter and issued warning to pirates to abandon the hijacked vessel.
Last month the Navy deployed several warships into the sea to “maintain a deterrent presence” after a string of recent shipping attacks, including a drone attack near India’s coast blamed on Iran by the United States.
The latest attack comes at a time when many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have carried out drone and missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.
Last month a drone attack hit the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India.
