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The Indian Navy successfully intercepted and rescued the hijacked Sri Lankan fishing vessel on Tuesday, in coordination with Seychelles Defence Forces and Sri Lanka Navy, the Ministry of Defence said.
The Indian Navy has successfully intercepted and rescued a hijacked vessel, in collaboration with Seychelles Defence Forces and Sri Lanka Navy. "In a coordinated multilateral response to the hijacking of a Sri Lankan fishing vessel, the Indian Navy, Seychelles Defence Forces and Sri Lanka Navy, successfully intercepted and rescued the vessel which was hijacked on January 27," the statement read. According to the statement, the Indian Navy deployed INS Sharada ex Kochi PM on January 28 and also tasked the HALE Sea Guardian drone to locate and intercept the hijacked fishing vessel. All three pirates surrendered to the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) and all six crew members are safe the vessel is being escorted to Mahe, Seychelles. In a separate case, the Indian Navy carried out two major rescue operations within 36 hours and rescued two hijacked fishing vessels and crew members including 17 Iranian and 19 Pakistani nationals. On Monday, the Indian Navy warship INS Sumitra thwarted the piracy attempt on an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, Al Naeemi sailing off the East Coast of Somalia and successfully rescued 19 Pakistani nationals. This operation came shortly after the INS Sumitra saved another Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, FV Iman, from Somali pirates, which had 17 crew members onboard in its anti-piracy operations along the east coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. "INS Sumitra, over the course of less than 36 hours, through swift, persistent and relentless efforts has rescued two hijacked Fishing Vessels along with 36 Crew (17 Iranian and 19 Pakistani) in the Southern Arabian Sea approximately 850 nm West of Kochi, and prevented misuse of these Fishing Vessels as Mother Ships for further acts of Piracy on Merchant Vessels," the Indian Navy said in a statement. Earlier, in a rapid and effective response, the Indian Navy's mission-deployed guided missile destroyer, INS Visakhapatnam, on January 18 addressed a distress call from the Marshall Island-flagged MV Genco Picardy following a drone attack on the night of January 17. (ANI)
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