From Le Figaro with AFP
Published 17 minutes ago, now updated
Third Project 15B stealth guided missile destroyer before its commissioning into the Indian Navy on December 22, 2023. INDRANIL MUKHERJEE / AFP
Armed people boarded a Liberian ship on Thursday evening. The Indian Navy intervened this Friday.
The Indian Navy said Friday that it came to the aid of a ship that made a distress call about a hijacking in the Arabian Sea and dispatched one of its destroyers to the location. Indian naval forces “quickly responded to a maritime incident in the Arabian Sea involving an attempted hijacking on board a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier,” it said in a statement.
Five or six “unknown armed men” boarded the ship on Thursday evening, the statement added. The Indian Navy did not disclose who was currently in control of the ship, but said an air patrol on Friday morning ensured the safety of its crew. According to the same source, INS Chennai, an Indian Navy destroyer, was also on its way to the ship to rescue it. Local media reported that around 15 Indian crew members were on board the ship. In its press release, the Indian Navy reiterated its resolve to “ensure merchant marine security in the region along with its foreign partners and allied nations.”
Merchant ships in sight
In late December, India announced the deployment of three warships and a reconnaissance aircraft in the Arabian Sea following a series of attacks on merchant ships. A chemical tanker, the MV Chem Pluto, flying the flag of Liberia, was hit off the coast of India last month by a drone that the United States said was fired from Iran, while Tehran denied any involvement. The incident followed a series of drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Attacks on shipping since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 have prompted major shipping companies to divert their ships to the southern tip of Africa for far-flung voyages despite higher fuel costs. The United States announced on December 18 the formation of a maritime defense coalition in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, joined by around twenty countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands and Bahrain.
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