Indian Navy foils pirate attack in Gulf of Aden

Mumbai, Sep 7: An Indian Navy ship, deployed to escort and thwart pirate attacks on merchant vessels, foiled a pirate attack targeting merchant vessels passing through the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, Sep 5.

INS Delhi, which has been deployed in the Gulf of Aden since July 2010, prevented Somalian and Yemeni pirates from hijacking 12 merchant vessels on Sep 5, an official defence spokesperson said on Monday, Sep 6.

The guided missile destroyer was escorting the formation of 12 merchant navy ships, including an Indian ship, MV Jag Ratan, when it detected when a small-sized, corridor boat named Bareeda about 180 kilometres off the Somalian coast.

Observing that the boat was moving towards the merchant vessels at a very high speed, INS Delhi tried to alert the boat on the Mercantile Marine Radio, but there was no response despite repeated calls.

As the warning calls failed, INS Delhi commandos headed towards Bareeda in interceptor boats besides dispatching a helicopter for aerial support.

Eight people were on board the the rogue boat, Bareeda, including seven Somali nationals and one Yemeni. A huge cache of arms and ammunition and excess fuel reserves were also found onboard.

The commandos disarmed the pirates and disposed off the excess fuel to prevent any piracy attempt, the spokesperson said.

This is the 16th piracy attempt foiled by the Indian Navy since it started its anti-piracy mission.

OneIndia News