Indian navy rescues 20 crew from Iranian fishing boat hijacked off Somalia — SkimNews
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- India's Defense Ministry said Indian naval forces freed the Iranian fishing boat Azini and its crew of 20 after an operation lasting more than 48 hours off Somalia, ending without casualties or injuries.
- Rajnath Singh said the rescue was completed Monday in the Arabian Sea, more than 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) from Mumbai, after Indian forces tracked the vessel by sea and air.
- Puntland Maritime Police Force official said Indian forces disarmed 12 suspected Somali pirates, confiscated their mobile phones and released them; the suspects and two Somali security guards later came ashore at Bandar Bayla, three with minor injuries.
- Azini was hijacked Oct. 29 between Bandar Bayla and Hafun, and a Puntland officer said it carried 21 Iranian crew and two Somali guards — one crew member more than India's rescue figure of 20, a discrepancy left unexplained, with regional authorities learning of the rescue only after it happened.
- C-17 aircraft airdropped additional Indian commandos, joining a warship, a maritime surveillance aircraft and marine commandos in the operation, which India said was mounted over concern that pirates could use the boat as a floating base for attacks on commercial ships.
- MT Honour 25 — a tanker held since April — was recovered by Puntland security forces in September after pirates killed five crew members, with 16 suspected pirates detained.
- Sibu 1, an oil products tanker seized about 252 kilometers east of al-Mukalla, Yemen, was among six commercial vessels Somali pirates hijacked between April and August, a resurgence after a decade of reduced piracy.
Why it matters: For tanker operators, six commercial vessels have been hijacked since April and five crew were killed on MT Honour 25, while the Iran war has pushed some diverted oil cargoes onto routes up to a month longer around Africa. India tracked and secured the Azini more than 3,000 kilometers from Mumbai, where regional officials learned of the rescue only afterward.
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