NEW DELHI: India’s navy stated on Monday (Jan 29) it had freed an Iranian fishing vessel that had been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia within the newest assault towards delivery within the Indian Ocean.
The hijacking off Somalia fuelled considerations a couple of resurgence of Indian Ocean raids by opportunistic pirates, approaching prime of a separate surge of assaults launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
“The fishing vessel had been boarded by pirates and the crew taken as hostages,” Indian navy spokesman Commander Vivek Madhwal stated, naming the vessel because the Iranian-flagged Iman.
India had deployed its warship INS Sumitra – which was on anti-piracy patrol off the east coast of Somalia within the Gulf of Aden – after receiving a misery message from the fishing vessel.
The warship “intercepted the vessel” after which labored to “coerce” the hijackers to launch the crew and boat, Madhwal stated, with out giving an actual location.
The warship “ensured the profitable launch of all 17 crew members together with the boat”, he added, with the fishing boat then “sanitised and launched for onward transit”.
The navy, which launched pictures of the Iranian fishing boat and crew, in addition to its sailors towing a skiff, didn’t give additional particulars of the operation or the destiny of the pirates.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched scores of assaults within the Purple Sea and Gulf of Aden focusing on Israeli-linked vessels in response to Israel’s battle towards the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
“PIRACY OF OPPORTUNITY”?
Worldwide naval forces have been diverted north from the Gulf of Aden into the Purple Sea, sparking fears that pirates will exploit the safety hole, with the primary profitable case of Somali piracy since 2017 recorded in December.
Eric Jaslin, the top of France-based Maritime Info Cooperation and Consciousness (MICA) Middle, stated final month it was nonetheless too early to say if assaults had been the results of “piracy of alternative” or as a result of army assets had been “centered on the Purple Sea”.
Pirate assaults off the Somali coast peaked in 2011 – with the gunmen launching assaults so far as 3,655km from the Somali coast within the Indian Ocean – earlier than falling off sharply after worldwide navies despatched warships and industrial delivery deployed armed guards.
India’s navy has been deployed constantly off Somalia since 2008, however in December despatched a far bigger drive – together with three guided-missile destroyers and P-8I reconnaissance plane to “preserve a deterrent presence” after a string of delivery assaults.
India, which has shut commerce ties with Iran, has not joined the US-led maritime process drive within the Purple Sea to guard worldwide delivery towards assaults by Houthi rebels.
On Jan 5, Indian navy commandos within the Arabian Sea boarded the Liberian-flagged bulk provider MV Lila Norfolk after a failed hijacking try.
On Saturday, suspected Somali pirates boarded and hijacked the Sri Lankan fishing trawler Lorenzo Putha-4 with six crew, about 840 nautical miles (1,555km) southeast of the Somali capital Mogadishu, the Sri Lankan navy stated.
Final month, Somali pirates hijacked the majority provider MV Ruen.
The Bulgaria-owned and Malta-flagged vessel was seized by Somali pirates 380 nautical miles east of the Yemeni island of Socotra on Dec 16.
The pirates, who launched one injured sailor into the care of the Indian navy, took the MV Ruen and its remaining 17 crew members to Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
