The Indian Navy conducted separate rescue operations for the rescue of two vessels that had been taken captive by Somali pirates.
The Indian Navy’s INS Sumitra successfully rescued 17 crewmembers from an Iranian vessel named the "FV IMAN" which had been hijacked by pirates off the east coast of Somalia. The operation took place on the night of Sunday, 28th January.
The warship intercepted the hijacked vessel and followed standard operating procedures to coerce the pirates into releasing the ship and the crew. Although the fate of the pirates is not known, an image of the detained pirates with Indian Navy personnel standing behind them was released.
In a separate rescue conducted within 24 hours of the last one, the “INS Sumitra” rescued another vessel named "AL NAEEMI." The fishing vessel had a crew of 19 Pakistani nationals that had been taken captive by 11 Somali pirates. The vessel was intercepted by the Indian warship around 850 nautical miles off of Kochi, India.
Somali pirates seem to be making a resurgence, with yet another hijacking incident occurring two days ago. In this incident, the Seychelles Defense Force rescued a Sri Lankan fishing vessel taken by three armed Somali pirates.
Source:Fleetmon
