Indian Navy deploys warship to help hijacked Bangladeshi ship

The Indian Navy has deployed a warship and a long range maritime patrol (LRMP) vessel in response to the piracy attack on Bangladeshi-flagged vessel, MV Abdullah, in the Indian Ocean.

They disclosed the information through a post on X handle on Friday, saying that the safety of crews of MV Abdullah was ascertained and the Indian warship continued to maintain in close vicinity of the vessel till its arrival in the territorial waters of Somalia.

The Somalian pirates took control of the Bangladeshi flag carrier in the Indian Ocean waters around 1:30 pm Tuesday. They anchored the ship 20 nautical miles off the coast of Garacad in Somalia around 1:00 pm Thursday (Bangladesh time). Later, the ship was anchored just seven nautical miles from the coast in the evening.

It is assumed that the pirates are changing the place to retain their control over the ship.

The Indian Navy said on receiving intimation on 12 March, their LRMP was immediately deployed and on locating the merchant vessel, MV Abdullah, in the evening, it attempted to establish communication to ascertain the status of the ship's crew members, but, no response was received from the ship.

Later, the Indian warship on maritime security operations, which had also been diverted, intercepted the hijacked Bangladeshi flag carrier on the morning of 14 March.

According to Hindustan Times, the Indian Navy, earlier this month, foiled a piracy attempt on an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel with a crew of 11 Iranian and eight Pakistani nationals along the East coast of Somalia.

In January, Indian warship INS Sumitra rescued 19 Pakistani crew members of a fishing vessel after their Iranian-flagged vessel was attacked by pirates in the east coast of Somalia. The Navy on January 5 thwarted an attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk in the North Arabian Sea and rescued all its crew members.

There have been mounting global concerns over Houthi militants launching a series of attacks on cargo vessels in the Red Sea in the last few months amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.