An Indian Navy destroyer responded to an SOS call from a British oil tanker hit by a missile by Yemen's Houthi militants in the gulf of Aden on Friday night.
As per a statement by the Indian Navy, INS Visakhapatnam, a guided missile destroyer, deployed in the Gulf of Aden responded to a distress call from MV Merlin Luanda on the night of January 26. The MV has 22 Indian and 01 Bangladeshi crew onboard.
“Based on the request from the MV Merlin Luanda, INS Visakhapatnam has deployed Ship's NBCD team along with firefighting equipment to render assistance to the crew towards augmenting firefighting efforts onboard the distressed MV,” said Indian Navy in a statement on Saturday.
The operator of the British oil tanker has said the vessel had been "struck by a missile in the Gulf of Aden after transiting the Red Sea", according to the reports.
Indian Navy increases its surveillance apparatus in Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden
The Indian Navy has significantly increased its surveillance apparatus in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden by deploying frontline destroyers and frigates in view of recent incidents of attacks on merchant vessels.
Earlier this month, the Indian Navy responded to a drone attack distress call from MV Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden on the night of January 17, and on January 5, it had thwarted an attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea and rescued all its crew members.
Earlier, Liberian-flagged vessel MV Chem Pluto, with 21 Indian crew members, was the target of a drone attack off India's west coast on December 23.
Besides MV Chem Pluto, another commercial oil tanker that was on the way to India came under a suspected drone strike in the Southern Red Sea on the same day. The vessel had a team of 25 Indians.
