Father Tom is safe and efforts are on for his release as early as possible.
Relatives of one of the sailors claimed that pirates had initially demanded $15 lakh and later raised it to $25 lakh for the release of the crew but it was not clear whether the ransom was paid or not.
Seven Indians, who were on board a hijacked Hong Kong-registered ship MV Delight, were safe after Somalian pirates released the vessel, the Directorate General of Shipping said in Mumbai on Sunday.The pirates released the vessel and 25 crew members onboard on Friday night, it said in a statement.MV Delight, chartered by Iran, was hijacked from the Gulf of Aden on November 18.
In yet another hijacking of a cargo ship, heavily-armed Somali pirates on Friday seized a chemical tanker with 25 Indians among the 31 crew in the Gulf of Aden.
Expressing gratitude to the media and the government for the release of merchant ship Stolt Valor, its captain Prabhat Goyal said on Tuesday that the Indian Navy should engage in "hot pursuit" to deal with pirates.
The wife of the captain of the ship, hijacked by armed Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden, today met Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi seeking his intervention to save the lives of 18 Indian sailors onboard the vessel.
'Absolute non-violence is not only sinful, but immoral.' 'This doctrine of non-violence benumbed the revolutionary fervor, softened the limbs and hearts of the Hindus, and stiffened the bones of enemies.' A revealing excerpt from Vikram Sampath's Savarkar (Part 2): A Contested Legacy, 1924-1966.
"Since Saturday afternoon, the 12 Somali and 11 Yemeni pirates are kept in custody on board INS Mysore and they are being fed with the rations meant for sailors," Navy officials said in Delhi on Monday. "We have not received any instructions yet from the Defence Ministry or the External Affairs Ministry on what needs to be done with the pirates," they said
A day after a Thai shipowner claimed it was his trawler with 15 men on board that the Indian war ship INS Tabar had sunk off the Gulf of Aden last week, the Indian Navy on Wednesday maintained that it was a pirate ship that the Tabar had sunk. "The navy's stand is the same," a spokesperson said. Asked if the navy had any details about the hijack claim of the Thai company, the spokesperson said: "See there are no special pirate ships. When they capture a ship, they use it."
The M T Stolt Valor, which had been hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in September, has been released, according to the National Union of Seafarers of India. There were 18 Indian soldiers on board the hijacked ship. Initial reports said that ransom was paid to the pirates by the Japanese owners Stolt Tankers. Reports said that all crew members on board are safe. The ship has left for Mumbai and will reach in three to four days.
A Hong Kong ship bound for Mumbai with 18 Indian crew members on board has been hijacked and taken to Somalia, officials in the Directorate General of Shipping said in Mumbai on Tuesday night.'Stolt Valor', which bears a Hong Kong flag and carries over 23,000 tonnes of oil products, is reported to have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on Monday at around 1.15 pm, they said.
'China's moves are of direct significance to India, which will closely monitor Chinese naval activity in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean not least because of Chinese maps depicting claims over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.'
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday that the Indian mother superior of an aid home in Aden, where four nuns were killed and an Indian priest was kidnapped by gunmen, has been safely evacuated.
M T Stolt Valor, the cargo ship released by Somali pirates after two-month captivity in the Gulf of Aden, reached Muscat on Friday."We docked in Muscat at 10.30 am. All crew members are safe and healthy," Captain of the ship Prabhat Goel said.The hijacked merchant ship with 18 Indian sailors on board was freed on November 16 after a ransom amount between one to 2.5 million dollars was paid reportedly by the Japanese owners, following negotiations.
The threat of maritime terrorism is real. What must India do to protect its eastern and western seaboards?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has spoken to various countries through which contacts can be established in Yemen where India does not have an Embassy of its own.
India on Wednesday asked all its nationals not to travel to Yemen in view of the ongoing conflict and fragile security situation there.
'By causing military humiliation of India it intends to send a signal to other Asian countries to toe the Chinese line,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
At least 29 people have been killed and many others wounded in a suicide bomb attack that ripped through a Shia mosque in Yemen's capital Sanaa.
The Keralite priest was abducted by Islamic State terrorists during a deadly attack on a care home in the port city of Aden
Father Uzhunnalil, 58, who hails from Kerala, was abducted in March last year by the terror group.
Taking a serious view of the suspicious movement of an American ship in Indian waters, the Centre on Monday sought a report from the Tamil Nadu government on the vessel which was detained for carrying arms and buying diesel unauthorisedly.
The indigenously-built Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel will be the presidential yacht and lead the presidential column for the 11th edition of the Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam.
With the signing of the pact, the Quad grouping of India, Japan, Australia and the US is set to gain more heft now, notes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'The US has been closely monitoring all ships originating from North Korea to detect missile shipments bound for the Gulf region, lest some of these missiles find their way into the arsenal of Saddam Hussein, or Pakistan,' says B Raman.
The memorial is the first-of-its-kind built by India in France after the country's Independence. The announcement to construct the memorial was made by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during her last visit to Paris in June 2018.
Among others, China is developing the strategically located Gwadar port in Balochistan, which is aimed towards having a military presence, says a Pentagon report
Father Uzhunnalil, who hails from Kerala, was abducted in March by terror group Islamic State which attacked an old-age home run by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity in southern Yemeni city of Aden.
"INS Godavari is likely to be used as a target to practice missile firing," said a naval official.
India on Monday evacuated 1,052 of its nationals from Yemen.
'The Chinese navy is large and expanding both in numbers and capability by the day.' 'India too must take measures to safeguard its own interests, now and in the future.'
As per plans, the Indian Air Force may use its planes to fly out Indian nationals stranded in Iraq to safer places nearby such as Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates from where commercial airliners would ferry them back to India.
As India's international role expands, so must our capabilities, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Two Navy-escorted passenger ships with 475 people evacuated from the conflict-hit Yemen arrived in Kochi on Saturday.
Over 660 Indian nationals evacuated from Yemen arrived home by two IAF planes and a special Air India flight on Friday night, taking the total number of evacuees who have been safely brought back from the strife-torn country to 1,022.
City, who have dished out a string of maulings in a stellar league campaign, found the Championship side a tough nut to crack and had to wait until the 92nd minute to grab the winner when Argentine substitute Aguero darted in to head home.
The government has asked Indian ships sailing in the Malacca Strait and South East Asia to be 'extra cautious' and take necessary security steps in view of rising incidents of hijacking and robbery
The Kerala priest was released recently after more than one-and-a-half years in captivity in Yemen.
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