Indian warship rescues 19 Pak fishermen

An Indian Navy warship that is on an anti-piracy sweep along the coast of Somalia carried out its second consecutive rescue mission by freeing a hijacked Iranian fishing vessel and securing the release of 19 hostages of Pakistani nationality. In a separate mission, the navy also assisted in the rescue of a hijacked Sri Lankan fishing vessel, supporting the Seychelles Defence Forces and Sri Lanka Navy to intercept the boat in the Indian Ocean.

INS Sumitra, an indigenous offshore patrol vessel, intercepted fishing vessel (FV) Al Naeemi late on Monday after receiving a distress call that it had been boarded by pirates off the Somalian coast. The Indian ship deployed its integral helicopter and launched fast attack boats to coerce the pirates to give up arms and surrender.

The warship managed to disarm 11 Somali pirates who had taken over the boat and rescued 19 fishermen who had been taken hostage. While the fishing vessel was flying under the Iranian flag, all the fishermen were Pakistani, an official said.


"Responding swiftly to the developing situation, INS Sumitra intercepted the FV and through coercive posturing and effective deployment of her integral helo and boats compelled the safe release of the crew and the vessel," the official said, adding that the boat was then sanitised.

On Sunday, the same warship had come to the aid of FV Iman in the same area after it reported being taken over by pirates. The fishing vessel, also flying under the Iranian flag, had been intercepted and 17 crew members rescued.

"Over the course of less than 36 hours, through swift, persistent and relentless efforts the warship has rescued two hijacked fishing vessels along with 36 crew (17 Iranian and 19 Pakistani) in southern Arabian Sea approximately 850 nm west of Kochi," the official said.

Besides ensuring the safety of the crew, the actions will also have an impact of subduing piracy attempts in the Gulf of Aden as hijacked fishing vessels are used as mother ships to carry out hijacking of large merchant vessels plying the waters.

Officials said that another hijacking incident was reported onboard the Sri Lankan flagged fishing trawler Lorenzo Putha 4 about 955 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, Somalia. The vessel had been seized by three pirates on Saturday.