An Indian naval frigate sunk a pirate vessel after repulsing an attack in the Gulf of Aden in a significant blow to the sea brigands at the heart of their operations in a third successive strike in as many weeks.
The success for INS Tabar to neutralise rising sea piracy off Somalia came in the first major offensive from among dozens of warships from several countries protecting shipping lanes in the area when it destroyed the 'mother ship' of a group of pirates after a fierce battle yesterday.
The pro-active operation from the Indian Navy comes a week after it saved two merchant vessels — one from India and other from Saudi Arabia — from being hijacked by sea pirates on November11 in the Gulf of Aden near the Horn of Africa.
The Navy said the stealth frigate, currently deployed there for anti-piracy surveillance and patrol operations, successfully took on the pirates last evening, 285 nautical miles south west off Salalah in Oman. The frigate was deployed for the anti-piracy mission since November 2.
INS Tabar encountered the pirates' mother ship with two speed boats in tow and there were about 20 pirates on board the ship, it is learnt. Pirates use mother ships, generally hijacked trawlers, to tow speedboats from which they launch their attacks. They are also loaded with food, diesel and water.
“This pirate vessel was similar in description to the 'Mother Vessel’ mentioned in various piracy bulletins. INS Tabar closed in on the vessel and asked her to stop for investigation,” a Navy spokesperson said here.
But the pirates threatened to blow up the warship if it sailed closer to their mother ship, despite repeated calls from INS Tabar to stop and let the Navy personnel to inspect the ship, he said.
The Navy noticed that pirates were roaming on the upper deck of the vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers in hand, and they continued the threats and subsequently fired upon INS Tabar.
In their retaliatory action in “self-defence”, INS Tabar opened fire on the mother vessel of the pirates. “As a result of INS Tabar's guns booming, fire broke out on the pirate vessel and explosions were heard, possibly due to exploding ammunition that was stored on the vessel,” he said.
Almost simultaneously, Indian Navy said, two speed boats were observed breaking off to escape. The ship chased the first boat, which was later found abandoned. The other boat made good its escape into darkness, he added.
While some of the pirates could have escaped in the speed boats, a few on board the destroyed mother ship perished, he said.
The incident came as shipping groups reported a new surge in hijackings off Somalia and the International Maritime Bureau said pirates based in the lawless African nation were now “out of control”.
INS Tabar was deployed on anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden since November 2. Western Naval Command has been controlling the anti-piracy operation since October 23 when the government ordered the Navy to deploy a warship in Gulf of Aden with the mandate to save Indian merchant vessels distressed by pirates.
Since deployment, INS Tabar has successfully escorted 35 ships, including a number of foreign-flagged vessels on receiving their request, safely during their transit through pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden.
It also threw back pirates, who attempted to hijack an Indian and a Saudi vessels on November 11 and accompanied the two merchant ships to safety.
The Indian action against pirates comes days after the release after the Japanese ship M V Stolt Valor with 18 Indian crew members hijacked from Gulf of Aden by Somalian pirates on September 15.
