A cargo ship with 15 Indians on board, ‘MV LILA NORFOLK’, was hijacked late last evening near the coast of Somalia and is being closely watched by the Indian Navy which has rushed a warship towards it, military officials said on Friday.
The Indian Navy’s Mission Deployed Platforms responded swiftly to the hijacking attempt on board a Liberian flagged bulk carrier after it received a message on the UKMTO portal indicating boarding by approximately five to six unknown armed personnel on Thursday evening, the Indian Navy said in an official statement on Friday.
An Indian warship, the INS Chennai, was diverted and deployed to assist the vessel, the statement said, adding that a naval aircraft overflew the hijacked vessel on Friday and had established contact with it.
The Indian navy has increased its surveillance of the Arabian Sea after a recent spate of attacks in the region.
Earlier this week, the navy said it had investigated a large number of fishing vessels and boarded vessels of interest in the North and Central Arabian Sea.
The ship sent a message on the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations portal saying five to six unknown armed personnel had boarded on the evening of Jan. 4, the Indian navy statement said.
“India plays the role of a net security provider in the entire Indian Ocean region. We will ensure that maritime trade in this region rises from the sea to the heights of the sky,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said last month of the increased surveillance in the region.
(Inputs from ANI)