Responding to distress call SOS by Bangladesh flagged merchant vessel MC Abdullah hijacked by pirates off the Somalia coast and 23 crew held hostages, Indian Navy promptly deployed the Long-Range Maritime Patrol (LRMP) aircraft to rescue the vessel late Tuesday night.
Indian Navy Mission Deployed warship on Maritime Security Operations was diverted and intercepted the hijacked MV Abdullah on Thursday morning in the Indian Ocean about 600 nautical miles east of Somalia's capital Mogadishu.
"A group of 15-20 Somali pirates hijacked the ship," confirmed Meherul Karim, Chief Executive Officer of Kabir Steel Re-Rolling Mills, which owns MV Abdullah.
Somalian pirates hijack MV Abdullah
The Bangladeshi-flagged MV Abdullah en route from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates with a cargo of around 55,000 tonnes of coal was attacked by Somalian pirates and hijacked with 23 crew taken hostage.
“Indian Navy responded to the SOS and immediately deployed LRMP for rescue mission and on locating the hijacked vessel attempted to establish communication to ascertain status of ship's crew members but did not get response from the distress ship,” said Indian Navy spokesperson.
The hijacked merchant vessel was intercepted by Indian Navy warship on Thursday morning and ascertained the safety of the MV's crew (all Bangladesh nationals) held hostage by the armed pirates and continued to maintain in close vicinity of the hijacked vessel till its arrival in the territorial waters of Somalia.
Earlier the Indian Navy has foiled a piracy attempt on an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel with a crew of 11 Iranian and eight Pakistani nationals along the East coast of Somalia.
In January, Indian warship INS Sumitra rescued 19 Pakistani crew members of a fishing vessel after their Iranian-flagged vessel was attacked by pirates in the east coast of Somalia. Another attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea was thwarted by the Indian Navy on 5 January and rescued all its crew members.
Pirates hijacking of commercial shipping has been on rise since December last year off Somalia coast with resurgence of piracy in the Indian Ocean and explosives laden drone attacks on merchant vessels by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden disrupting the vital sea routes connecting Asia to Europe.
