Merchant vessel with 15 Indian crew hijacked near Somalian coast: Navy

India sends a stealth guided-missile destroyer and patrol aircraft to monitor ship

A cargo ship with 15 Indian crew members was hijacked late Thursday evening near the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean, marking another crisis for maritime trade harassed by attacks on vessels in the Arabian Sea in the past one month.

Liberian-flagged MV Lila Norfolk was boarded by six armed people, said the Indian Navy that has sent INS Chennai, a stealth guided-missile destroyer, to monitor the ship. A maritime patrol aircraft, the P8I, is also monitoring the ship.

Communication has been established with the hijacked ship’s crew, the Navy said. On December 15, an Indian Navy aircraft was the first to notice the hijacking of Maltese-flagged MV Ruen off the Indian coast. The Indian Navy subsequently secured the release of an injured crew member and treated him on INS Kochi.

 

On December 28, the Navy said it has deployed two Kolkata class destroyers, one Visakhapatnam class destroyer, and one talwar class frigate in the region where Ruen was hijacked.

The series of assaults have come in the wake of Iran-backed Houthis stepping up attacks on ships in the Red Sea amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Last month, the Indian government flagged the rising cases of piracy in international waters and advised seafarers to be extremely cautious.

On December 23, Japanese-owned and Liberian-flagged merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto carrying 20 Indian crew members was hit by a suspected drone about 217 nautical miles South-West off Gujarat's Porbandar in the Arabian Sea and caught fire.

A day later, a Gabon-flagged commercial crude oil tanker MV Sai Baba with 25 Indian crew members came under drone attack in the Southern Red Sea when it was on its way to India. No one was injured in the attack by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who control much of Yemen.

Repeated incidents have indicated a shift such attacks much closer to India's Exclusive Economic Zone.

"In response to these incidents, the Indian Navy has already substantially enhanced maritime surveillance efforts in the Central/North Arabian sea and augmented force levels. Task groups comprising destroyers and frigates have been deployed to undertake maritime security operations and render assistance to merchant vessels in case of any incident," the Navy said earlier this week.

India's shipping regulator, the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS), has been also actively monitoring the situation and coordinating with stakeholders.