Indian Navy foils piracy attempt on Liberian vessel in Gulf of Aden

New Delhi: In a swift operation involving marine commandos and an armed chopper, the Indian Navy thwarted a piracy attempt on a Liberian vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

The Navy's warship INS Sharda, deployed in Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy mission, swung into action after it received a distress call from MV Lord Mountbatten around 4:45 PM yesterday.

INS Sharda is deployed for anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden since April 06, 2017.

After reaching out to the vessel, the Navy's 'Marcos' commandos with support from the helicopter onboard the ship, carried out a 'board and search' operation on two dhows and five skiffs which had shown "malicious intent".

Three skiffs fled the area at high speeds on sighting the Indian warship.

"The ship received a distress call from MV Lord Mountbatten, in position 230 nm South-West in the Gulf of Aden. The vessel had reported an incident of attempted piracy by two suspicious mother vessels along with 7-8 skiffs. Sharda, which was at that time 30 Nm East of the reported position, immediately responded to the distress call and proceeded at best speed to investigate the incident," Navy Spokesperson Captain DK Sharma said.

One automatic Kalashnikov rifle and 28 rounds of magazines were also recovered from one of the dhows, he said.

Indian Naval assets have been increasingly deployed in recent times to address the various maritime concerns of the region, including piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Sharma said the Indian Navy had started deploying its ships in the Gulf of Aden since October 2008 and has been maintaining 24x7 presence in piracy-infested areas since then.

He said yesterday's operation was 41st such intervention by the Navy in the last eight-and-a-half years in the region during which the force had escorted 3,749 ships and apprehended 120 pirates, as per PTI.

The Navy had also rescued 74 fishermen during the period while INS Sharda is the 63rd Indian Navy ship to be part of the anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden.

The Navy tweeted the following:

# Anti-piracyOpsGoA INS Sharda foils piracy attempt in the Gulf of Aden https://t.co/HO5wcf4vDT pic.twitter.com/0oQuBE6Nr1

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) May 17, 2017

Also watch the video posted by @indiannavy:

#AntiPiracyOpsinGoA INS Sharda foils a piracy attempt on MV Lord Mountbatten, Liberian registered ship in Gulf of Aden @SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/QRIJXjNPgT — SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) May 17, 2017

The navies of India and China last month had rescued a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden after it was hijacked by Somali pirates.

Two frontline warships of the Indian Navy - INS Mumbai and INS Tarkash - were part of the operation while the Chinese Navy had deployed missile frigate Yulin.

However, China had not acknowledged participation of the Indian Navy in the operation.

(With Agency inputs)