The Indian crew on board are safe and Marine Commandos MARCOS are ready for operations, said military officials.
Abandon ship, Indian naval warship sounded the alert to pirates as it reached the cargo ship, ‘MV Lila Norfolk’, that was hijacked late last evening near the coast of Somalia, military officials said on Friday.
The hijacking was reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a British military organisation that tracks movements of various vessels in strategic waterways.
Around 15 Indian crew members are aboard the ship in the Arabian Sea.
The Indian crew on board are safe and Marine Commandos MARCOS are ready for operations, military officials told news agency ANI.
Naval warship INS Chennai, a navy destroyer, has launched its helicopter and issued warning to pirates to abandon the hijacked vessel.
Last month the Navy deployed several warships into the sea to “maintain a deterrent presence” after a string of recent shipping attacks, including a drone attack near India’s coast blamed on Iran by the United States.
The latest attack comes at a time when many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have carried out drone and missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.
Last month a drone attack hit the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India.
