Indian Navy responds to hijacking bid of Bangladeshi vessel off Somali coast

Bangladesh-flagged ship MV Abdullah that was seized by pirates off the Somalia coast. Photo: X/@indiannavy

The Indian Navy on Friday said that its offshore Long Range Maritime Patrol (LRMP) vessel and a warship responded to a distress call from a Bangladeshi-flagged cargo vessel hijacked off the Somali coast during its voyage from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) earlier this week.

In a statement released on Friday, the Indian Navy said that on receiving intimation on March 12, the LRMP P-81 was immediately deployed and on locating the merchant vessel, MV Abdullah, in the evening, it attempted to establish communication to ascertain the status of the ship's crew members, but, no response was received from the ship.

"#IndianNavy's Mission Deployed warship & an LRMP responded to a piracy attack on MV Abdullah, a Bangladeshi-flagged vessel, whilst enroute from Mozambique to the United Arab Emirates. On receipt of intimation, the LRMP was immediately deployed & after locating the MV in evening of #12Mar 24, attempted to establish communication to ascertain status of ship's crew members. However, no response was received from the ship," the Indian Navy said in a post on X.

The Navy further said that the safety of the crew held hostage by armed pirates was ascertained and the Indian Navy warship continued to maintain its presence in the close vicinity of the vessel till its arrival in the territorial waters of Somalia.

"The Mission Deployed warship on #MaritimeSecurityOperations, which had also been diverted, intercepted the hijacked MV on the morning of #14Mar 24. The safety of the MV's crew (all Bangladesh nationals) held hostage by the armed pirates was ascertained & the warship continued to maintain in close vicinity of the MV till its arrival in the territorial waters of Somalia, " it added.

In the last two months, the Indian Navy has extended assistance to several merchant vessels in the Indian Ocean following the piracy attacks.

The Indian Navy, earlier this month, 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. The Navy on January 5 thwarted an attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea and rescued all its crew members.

There have been mounting global concerns over Houthi militants launching a series of attacks on cargo vessels in the Red Sea in the last few months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.