India navy rescues Arabian Sea crew after hijack attempt

NEW DELHI: India´s navy said on Friday it had rescued 21 crew members from a vessel in the Arabian Sea after a hijacking distress call, the latest attack on commercial shipping in the region.

Last month the force deployed several warships into the sea to “maintain a deterrent presence” after a string of recent shipping attacks, including a drone strike near India´s coast which the United States has blamed on Iran.

It comes at a time when many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea due to drone and missile attacks carried out by Yemen´s Iran-backed Huthi rebels in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas militants.

A navy statement said Friday that all 21 crew members, including 15 Indian nationals, aboard the MV Lila Norfolk had been evacuated from the ship´s citadel -- a fortified section of commercial vessels used as a refuge during pirate attacks.

The 84,000-tonne bulk carrier had been boarded by five or six “unknown armed personnel” on Thursday evening but the attempted hijacking was “probably abandoned” after a forceful warning by Indian Navy, the statement said.

It added that the warship INS Chennai, which had intercepted the vessel earlier Friday, was working to restore power and propulsion to allow the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier to continue to its next port of call.

The navy did not give a precise location of the vessel, which was last pinged by online marine traffic monitors off the coast of East Africa six days earlier.