Indian Navy Thwarts Third Piracy Attempt In Two Days, Rescues Sri Lankan Flagged Vessel From Three Somalian Pirates

Thwarting a third hijacking attempt in two days, the Indian Navy helped in rescuing a Sri Lankan fishing trawler from pirates off the Somalian coast on Tuesday (30 January), NDTV reported quoting Navy officials.

With the help of the Indian Navy's inputs, the vessel was subsequently intercepted in Seychelles by their coast guard. All six crew members were reported to be safe and were escorted to Mahe in Seychelles.

A Sri Lankan flagged vessel Lorenzo Putha 04 was hijacked off the Mogadishu (Somalia's capital) coast by three pirates on Saturday. The Indian Navy deployed its patrol vessel INS Sharada to locate the hijacked vessel.

Sea Guardian drones were also sent. After a coordinated multilateral response of the Indian Navy along with Seychelles Defence Forces and Sri Lanka Navy, the hijacked vessel was successfully intercepted and rescued.

This accounts for the third such operation by the Indian Navy in two days amid growing attacks on merchant ships in waters around Middle East.

Earlier, INS Sumitra thwarted the piracy attempt on Iranian-flagged Fishing Vessel Iman and also rescued Fishing Vessel Al Naeemi and her crew of 19 Pakistani nationals from 11 Somali Pirates.