11 Iranian, 8 Pakistani nationals rescued from pirates off Africa’s Somalian coast

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, February 2

Yet another incident of piracy at the sea has been countered by the India Navy. It has secured the release of 11 Iranian and 8 Pakistani nationals who had been taken hostage by pirates off Africa’s Somalian coastline.

This is the fourth such success for the Navy since January 28, 2024.

The Navy said a Fishing Vessel FV Omari was monitored on January 31 by a Predator UAV undertaking surveillance in the area. It located FV Omari and gave its coordinates to the control room. The warship INS Sharada, already deployed for anti-piracy mission in the region, was diverted to intercept the hijacked vessel.

The FV Omaril an Iranian-flagged vessel, had been boarded by seven pirates who had taken the crew as hostage, the Navy said.

The INS Sharada intercepted the vessel in early hours on Friday, The ship launched a helicopter and also boats carrying marine commandoes to coerce the pirates.

“The warship has ensured successful release of the crew and the hijacked vessel, the Navy said. Commandos boarded the FV Omari to ‘sanitise’ and check on the well-being of the crew who had been held captive by the Somali pirates.

Since January 28, the Indian Navy had carried out three separate operations against pirates in the Arabian Sea.

On January 29, within a fishing vessel with 19 Pakistani fishermen was freed from pirates and rescue of another fishing vessel was coordinated by providing real-time surveillance inputs from UAV, the Sea Guardian.

The INS Sumitra rescued Iran-registered Fishing Vessel Al Naeemi and its 19 Crew, all Pakistani nationals. The operation was carried East of Somalia in Africa and is some 1600 km west of India, the Navy said on Tuesday morning. Eleven Somalian pirates were on board the vessel.

On the same day, the Navy coordinated a multi-nation response to the hijacking of a Sri Lankan fishing vessel, ‘Lorenzo Putha 04’. Navy provided the technical expertise using its long-range predator UAV to locate the vessel that was hijacked on January 27 some 1750 km east of Mogadishu, Somalia. The hijacked fishing vessel was located at sea and the Coast Guard ship of Seychelles, SCGS Topaz, intercepted it.

Earlier on January 28, the INS Sumitra, had thwarted a piracy attempt on Fishing Vessel Iman and freed its 17 Iranian crew.