New Delhi: The Indian Navy thwarted a piracy attempt on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, even as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) issued an urgent appeal for the release of the crews of three other vessels held by Somali pirates.
The ship, a St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged bulk carrier, reported an attempted pirate attack on July 1 while transiting from Aden, Yemen, approximately 300 nautical miles east-northeast of Djibouti. It was en route to Thoothukudi with 21 crew members — 20 Syrian nationals and an Indian, the Navy said, as reported by The Hindu.
The MV crew followed emergency protocol and locked themselves up in a protected area known as the ‘citadel’ before sending out an alert.
The Navy’s stealth frigate INS Trikand that was about 80 nautical miles away received an alert through the Information Fusion Centre–Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) and altered course to close in on the vessel. It launched a helicopter with marine commandos (Marcos) to sanitise the area even as it approached.
Naval personnel established communication with the vessel and ascertained that the crew had taken shelter in the ship’s citadel — a fortified refuge built to withstand forced entry, equipped with independent power, ventilation, satellite communication and supplies — with pirates suspected to be still onboard.
The merchant vessel had been stopped roughly 110 nautical miles northeast of Somalia’s Boosaaso. The INS Trikand maintained a close watch within 1.5 nautical miles of the vessel through the night.
On Thursday, a Marcos team boarded MV Golden Arsenal to sanitise the vessel and assess the situation. No suspicious personnel were found onboard after a comprehensive search. The crew then safely emerged from the citadel and, along with Indian Navy personnel, began assessing the damage to the vessel.
The Indian Navy also deployed a P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft for aerial surveillance and reconnaissance, enhancing maritime domain awareness in the area and supporting the anti-piracy mission.
The merchant ship had sustained damage to its bridge superstructure and adjoining compartments during the pirate attack.
The operation concluded after the boarding party the vessel secure. The ship has since resumed its onward voyage.
The IMO, meanwhile, issued an urgent appeal for the release of the crews of three other vessels still held by Somali pirates, warning that the humanitarian situation aboard one of them, which has one Indian crew member, had turned critical. Five Indian nationals are among the crews of the other two vessels.
The UN body has expressed particular concern over the Palau-flagged tanker MT Honour 25, whose 17 crew members — including an Indian national — have now been held for more than two months since the vessel was hijacked on April 24.
The IMO cited latest communication from the ship’s Master and stated that five crew members, including the Master, were now unwell, with food supplies reportedly down to rice alone and the available drinking water unfit to drink. It also said armed pirates guarding the vessel had recently exchanged fire with a rival pirate group that tried to approach the ship, leaving the crew caught between competing armed factions.
The crews of two other vessels — the Sward and MV Eureka — also continue to be held under similarly difficult conditions, the IMO said. The MV Eureka’s 12-member crew includes four Indian nationals, while there are no Indians among those held aboard the Sward, officials said.
The IMO called for urgent, coordinated international intervention to secure the immediate and unconditional release of all three crews, urging Somalia’s federal government, flag states, shipowners, insurers and regional partners to intensify diplomatic and operational efforts.
