Navy foils merchant navy vessel hijack bid
The Indian Navy foiled an attempted hijacking of an Indian merchant vessel by sea pirates late on Tuesday.
In a combined air and sea raid, the naval forces seized a cache of arms and ammunition from the pirates.
According to an official communiqué from the Navy, the INS Sukanya spotted a boat with a skiff in tow suspiciously sneaking towards an Indian merchant vessel MV Desh Rakshak on Tuesday night.
The suspected vessel, 12 metres in length, was trailing the MV Desh Rakshak for five to six nautical miles.
On nearing the merchant vessel, the crew members were signalled to board the skiff. When this was spotted by the INS Sukanya, an aerial investigation of the mother boat and the skiff was launched.
The navy sharp shooters rappelled onto the rogue boats after intercepting them. A search revealed three rifles, eight magazines and 320 rounds of ammunition.
The pirates had also stocked up on a large quantity of fuel, LPG cylinders, communication and navigation equipment, ladders and grapnel hooks used for boarding targeted ships.
A day before this high-sea drama, four ships and a Dornier aircraft were mobilised for an emergency service to locate and rescue a yacht adrift in the Arabian Sea.
On Monday night, the Coast Guard air wing located a yacht with engine-failure with two Australians on board, 158 miles west of the Mumbai shoreline.
The vessel had been drifting with no power and dead communication equipment for the past four days.
