Indian naval forces rescued 20 crew members from the Iranian fishing boat Azini after it was hijacked off Somalia, India’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The operation lasted more than 48 hours and was completed Monday in the Arabian Sea, more than 3,000 kilometers from Mumbai, according to Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
The mission involved a warship, a maritime surveillance aircraft and marine commandos. The ministry said an Indian Air Force C-17 also airdropped additional commandos. Indian forces tracked the vessel by sea and air before securing it, amid concerns that pirates might use it as a base to attack commercial ships.
A Puntland Maritime Police Force official told The Associated Press that Indian forces disarmed 12 suspected Somali pirates, took their mobile phones and released them. The suspects and two Somali security guards later came ashore at Bandar Bayla in northeastern Somalia, the official said. Three people who came ashore had minor injuries, but it was not clear whether they were pirates or guards. India’s ministry reported no casualties or injuries, without specifying whether that referred to everyone aboard or only the rescued crew.
The Azini was hijacked on October 29 between Bandar Bayla and Hafun. A Puntland maritime police officer said earlier that the boat had 21 Iranian crew members and two Somali security guards. The reason for the difference between that crew count and India’s figure of 20 rescued crew members was not immediately known. It was also unclear whether the crew remained aboard the vessel after the rescue.
The hijacking comes amid a resurgence of Somali piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean. By August, pirates had hijacked six commercial vessels since April, including the oil products tanker Sibu 1, seized about 252 kilometers east of al-Mukalla, Yemen. In September, Puntland authorities said pirates had killed five crew members of the tanker MT Honour 25 before security forces recovered it and detained 16 suspected pirates.
Sources: NPR News.