Pakistan Navy corvette collides with Indian warship in Arabian Sea — SkimNews
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- PNS Hunain (F-273), a Pakistan Navy corvette, collided with a frontline Indian Navy warship in the North Arabian Sea on September 15, 2026, after approaching at high speed in what the Indian Ministry of External Affairs called 'unsafe and unprofessional' maneuvers during a close-range intercept attempt.
- PNS Hunain sustained damage in the grazing collision and returned to harbour, while the Indian naval vessel suffered only minor damage and continued its routine surveillance mission; no casualties or major damage were reported.
- India's Ministry of External Affairs summoned Pakistan's Chargé d'Affaires in New Delhi to lodge a 'strong protest' over the 'unacceptable and unprofessional conduct of Pakistani naval units at sea.'
- New Delhi cited Article 10 of the April 1991 Agreement between India and Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements as having been directly contravened, and instructed India's Chargé d'Affaires in Islamabad to lodge a parallel protest with Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- PNS Hunain is a Yarmook-class offshore patrol vessel built by Damen Shipyards in Romania, commissioned into the Pakistan Navy in July 2024, approximately 98 metres long, and designed for maritime security, surveillance, and patrol missions.
- The incident occurred in international waters against the backdrop of continued deployment of Indian and Pakistani naval assets in the Arabian Sea, with both sides expected to examine the exact circumstances through respective channels.
Why it matters: A physical collision between warships in international waters — with India explicitly invoking its 1991 bilateral advance-notice agreement — raises the diplomatic cost between two nuclear-armed rivals already maintaining a heavy naval presence in the Arabian Sea. The asymmetric outcome, with Pakistan's corvette sustaining damage and returning to harbour while the Indian vessel continued its mission, hands India a clear operational and rhetorical advantage in the protest exchange.
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