A cargo ship with 15 Indians onboard has been \u201chijacked\u201d near the coast of Somalia and the Indian navy received information about it on Thursday evening, Indian media reported on Friday.
\nIndia\u2019s navy said it was responding to the apparent hijacking of a cargo vessel in the Arabian Sea, the latest incident of attacks on commercial shipping in the region.
\nLast month the force deployed several warships into the sea to \u201cmaintain a deterrent presence\u201d after a string of recent shipping attacks, including a drone attack near India\u2019s coast blamed on Iran by the United States.
\nIt comes at a time when many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea, where Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have carried out drone and missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas militants.
\nThe navy said it had \u201cresponded swiftly to a maritime incident in Arabian Sea involving a hijacking attempt\u201d of a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier ship.
\nAround 15 Indian crew members are aboard the ship, local media reported.
\nFive or six \u201cunknown armed personnel\u201d had boarded the vessel on Thursday evening, the navy said.
\nThe navy did not specify whether hijackers were currently in control of the ship but said an overhead patrol flight had ascertained the safety of the crew on Friday morning.
\nINS Chennai, a navy destroyer, was closing in on the vessel\u2019s location to offer assistance, it added.
\n\u201cThe Indian Navy remains committed to ensuring safety of merchant shipping in the region along with international partners and friendly foreign countries,\u201d the statement said.
\nLast month a drone attack hit the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India.
\nIran\u00b4s foreign ministry rejected accusations of responsibility for that attack by Washington as \u201cworthless\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A cargo ship with 15 Indians onboard has been \u201chijacked\u201d near the coast of Somalia and the Indian navy received information about it on Thursday evening, Indian media reported on Friday. India\u2019s navy said it was responding to the apparent hijacking of a cargo vessel in the Arabian Sea, the latest incident of attacks on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-379033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n