Indian Navy helps in rescue of hijacked Sri Lankan vessel
New Delhi: In a coordinated response, the Indian Navy along with naval forces of Sri Lanka and Seychelles, rescued a fishing vessel with six crew members after it was hijacked in the sea lanes east of Mogadishu, officials said on Tuesday.
The Indian Navy has carried out several successful rescues in recent weeks after receiving distress calls from vessels.
The Sri Lankan-flagged fishing trawler Lorenzo Putha was hijacked by three pirates on January 27, the officials said. The Indian Navy deployed INS Sharada and also tasked the Sea Guardian long-range drones to locate the hijacked fishing vessel on Sunday and it was intercepted the next day.
"In a coordinated multilateral response to the hijacking of a Sri Lankan fishing vessel, the Indian Navy in collaboration with Seychelles defence forces and Sri Lankan Navy successfully intercepted and rescued the hijacked vessel," Indian Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.
The three pirates surrendered to the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) and all six crew members are safe and the vessel is being escorted to Mahe in Seychelles, he said.
"The Indian Navy deployed INS Sharada and also tasked the Sea Guardian long-range drones to locate and intercept the hijacked fishing vessel," Madhwal said.
"Additionally, efficient operational coordination and information sharing through the Sri Lanka and Seychelles International Liaison Officers at IFC-IOR, New Delhi resulted in the interception of the hijacked fishing vessel on Monday," he said.
The Indian Navy established the IFC-IOR (Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region) in 2018 to effectively keep track of the shipping traffic as well as other critical developments in the region under a collaborative framework with like-minded countries.
The Navy on Wednesday also said that INS Sumitra, deployed for anti-piracy and maritime security operations in the east of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, rescued two hijacked fishing vessels along with 36 crew (17 Iranian and 19 Pakistani) in the Southern Arabian Sea within a span of 36 hours.
