Navy Intercepts Hijacked Iranian Fishing Vessel In Arabian Sea, Rescue Ops Underway

New Delhi: The Indian Navy scrambled two ships on Arabian Sea after receiving inputs of a “potential piracy incident” on a fishing vessel on Thursday late evening, according to an official statement.

Responding to the incident onboard an Iranian fishing vessel ‘Al Kamar 786’, the two Navy ships, “mission deployed” in the Arabian Sea for maritime security and surveillance, were sent to rescue the “highjacked” vessel.

“Based on the inputs on a potential piracy incident onboard Iranian Fishing Vessel ‘Al Kamar 786’ late evening on 28 Mar 24, two Indian Naval ships, mission deployed in Arabian Sea for maritime security operations were diverted to intercept the hijacked fishing vessel. The FV (fishing vessel), at the time of incident, was approximately 90 Nm South West of Socotra and was reported to have been boarded by nine armed pirates,” the Indian Navy said on Friday.

#IndianNavy Responds to Piracy Attack in the #ArabianSea.

Inputs received on a potential piracy incident onboard Iranian Fishing Vessel ‘Al-Kambar’ late evening on #28Mar 24, approx 90 nm South West of Socotra.
Two Indian Naval ships, mission deployed in the #ArabianSea for… pic.twitter.com/PdEZiCAu3t

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) March 29, 2024

The Navy informed further that the distressed vessel was intercepted on Friday and the operation was still underway to rescue the crew.

“The hijacked FV has been intercepted on 29 Mar 24. The operation is currently underway by the Indian Navy towards rescue of hijacked FV and its crew,” read the Navy’s X post.

“Indian Navy remains committed to ensuring maritime security in the region and safety of seafarers, irrespective of the nationalities,” the post read further.

In a similar operation earlier, Navy warship INS Kolkata rescued the crew of merchant ship MV Ruen, which had been under attack from Somali pirates.

Sharing details of the operation that went down with pin-point precision, the Navy informed that the distressed crew was rescued while the Somali pirates were forced to surrender.

The pirates were eventually turned over to the Mumbai Police, the Navy informed.