Indian Navy Saves 19 Pakistani Sailors from Pirates Off Somalia Coast

New Delhi: Indian Navy’s warship INS Sumitra rescued 19 Pakistani sailors, whose fishing vessel was hijacked by pirates off the east coast of Somalia on Monday. This was the second anti-piracy operation by INS Sumitra within 36 hours.

Eleven armed pirates had taken over an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel FV Al Naeemi and took the 19 Pakistani crew members as hostages. The Indian Navy warship intercepted the fishing vessel and forced the pirates to release the hostages.

“Responding swiftly to the developing situation Sumitra intercepted the FV (fishing vessel) on PM 29 Jan 24 and through coercive posturing and effective deployment of her integral helo and boats compelled the safe release of the crew and the vessel,” the Navy said in a statement.

#INSSumitra Carries out 2nd Successful #AntiPiracy Ops – Rescuing 19 Crew members & Vessel from Somali Pirates.
Having thwarted the Piracy attempt on FV Iman, the warship has carried out another successful anti-piracy ops off the East Coast of Somalia, rescuing Fishing Vessel Al… https://t.co/QZz9bCihaU pic.twitter.com/6AonHw51KX

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) January 30, 2024

The swift rescue comes a day after INS Sumitra responded to an SOS call by another Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, FV Iman, which was hijacked by Somali pirates. The vessel’s 17 Iranian crew members were rescued by the Navy.

A few days back, Indian Navy’s INS Visakhapatnam, currently on an anti-piracy mission, had helped extinguish a massive fire onboard a merchant vessel after it was struck by a missile in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday night .