Reports claiming that Chinese warships had engaged in a standoff with an Indian submarine in the Gulf of Aden, which appeared on major Chinese Web sites last week, were false.
India on Wednesday, rubbished reports that China's warships on anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden caught an ndian Navy submarine snooping on it in the international waters.
Somali pirates are "shifting their location" towards India, but the country is watchful to deal with such threats, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
With India rushing its warship to Gulf of Aden after pirates attacked cargo ships carrying its nationals, the US says it is keen to partner with New Delhi to jointly patrol the high seas off the African coast to deter the armed outlaws. "The Indian ships presence in Gulf of Aden will provide both of us an opportunity to work together (against pirates) and we are looking forward to it," said US Navy Captain Kenneth J Norton on board USS Ronald Reagan.
An Indian Navy ship has thwarted a pirate attack on a merchant vessel with 10 Indian crew members in the Gulf of Aden.
Indian Naval Ship Sukanya, deployed on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden under the operational control of the Western Naval Command, thwarted a multiple-boat attack by pirates on Thursday and rescued 26 Somali crewmembers.
In a strong display of its prowess in the global fight against the menace of piracy threatening maritime trade near Horn of Africa, Indian Navy's guided missile destroyer INS Mysore repulsed the pirate attack on Ethiopian flag-bearing MV Gibe that was sailing 150 nautical miles off Aden in Yemen around noon, a Navy spokesperson said in New Delhi.
The attack on the Norwegian-owned merchant vessel -- M V Maud, flying the Liberian flag -- took place about 225 nautical miles east of Aden around 1300 hours on Thursday, the sources said.
When questioned about the absence of any mention of the Indian Navy's role in the operation, Hua said China's ministry of defence should be approached for details.
Around 350 stranded Indians were evacuated on Wednesday from strife-torn Yemen's Aden city on an Indian Naval ship that will now take them to Djibouti, a country neighbouring Yemen and across the Red Sea.
In a boost for the country's surveillance capabilities to monitor activities of both military warships and merchant shipping in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the 'Sindhu Netra' satellite developed by a team of young scientists from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was successfully deployed in space on Sunday.
Suspected pirates on Thursday attempted to hijack an Indian ship in the Gulf of Aden, but were apprehended by a United States missile cruiser, which 'quickly' responded to the merchant vessel's distress call. The Indian-flagged Motor Vessel Premdivya sent a distress call reporting that she had been fired by a small skiff and suspected pirates were attempting to board it. The guided missile cruiser Vella Gulf intercepted the call and navy copter signaled for the skiff to stop
An Indian national, believed to have been injured in a bomb blast in Yemen's Aden, has succumbed to his injuries, defence sources said on Friday.
The country's first indigenously designed and built warship Godavari will be decommissioned on Wednesday in Mumbai, thirty-two years after it was commissioned into the Indian Navy.
Jinan, a Luyang II-class missile destroyer of the Chinese navy, on Monday docked at Mumbai harbour on a stopover while on an anti-piracy mission on the Gulf of Aden.
Twenty five Indian crew members and their vessel were rescued from pirates in the Gulf of Aden by a European warship operating there last week. The EUNAVFOR warship FGS Berlin had launched a rescue mission after receiving a distress call from an Indian flagged merchant vessel on February 28 by sending a chopper there.
"Yes, we met Shipping Minister G K Vasan, and he assured us that he would do something. Pirates have threatened to kill our children if nothing is done till November 3O. So, we have decided that till they (government) decide to get them released, we will not go from here," mother of Mehtab, one of the hostages, said.
India and France agreed to intensify their cooperation in defence sector, particularly in the field of anti-piracy and maritime security and expected to finalise soon a deal for upgrading IAF's Mirage-2000 fighter aircraft.
Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan on Saturday said the government was committed to safely bring back the 39 seafarers, held captive by Somalian pirates.
Days after the brush off incident between their warships in the Gulf of Aden, Indian Navy on Friday said Pakistani ship PNS Babur had damaged a part of INS Godavari by moving too close to it.
The Navy on Thursday pulled out its warship from escorting MV Suez, released by pirates, towards Salalah port in Oman after the Egyptian vessel, under the command of a Pakistani national, did not respond to its calls.
A French Navy has rescued eleven Indian sailors from suspected pirates at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. According to a media release of the Embassy of France in New Delhi, the rescue operation took place on January 18 off the coast of Oman.
With the revision of the HRA, which was extended to include the west coast of India in 2010, some of the country's maritime security concerns like floating armouries and proliferation of private security are likely to be addressed, the Navy said.
Somali and Yemeni pirates' attempt to hijack for ransom Indian cargo vessels sailing off the Somalia coast has once again been thwarted by an Indian warship.
The government on Thursday said it was making all possible effort to seek the early release of 64 Indians held hostage by Somali pirates, including six on board an Egyptian cargo ship hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, in August last year. "I share the anxiety and concerns of the family members and we are making all efforts to ensure the safety of Indians and also to expedite their release," Shipping Minister G K Vasan said.
A week after seizing eight Indian vessels with about 100 sailors on board, Somalian pirates have released one of the boats along with 15 people on board.
Swift intervention by a Malaysian naval helicopter on Thursday saved an Indian vessel from a hijack bid by armed pirates dressed in military attire in the Gulf of Aden region, off Somalia.
The manager of the Liberian registered cargo ship, Ishima -- a Singapore-based ship management company, has appointed a professional negotiator to talk with Somalia hijackers, Abdulgani Y Serang, General Secretary, National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) said.
A suspected pirate vessel that was destroyed by India's INS Tabar last week in the Gulf of Aden was in fact a Thai fishing trawler which had been hijacked, a maritime bureau confirmed today.
Indian shipping companies' reluctance to take piracy insurance is probably linked to sky-rocketing costs. According to the site of London-based corporate security firm BGN Risk, piracy in the Gulf of Aden could increase insurance and transport costs by $400 million. Special risk insurance for crossing the Gulf has soared from $500 a voyage last year to $20,000 now, the company said.
The Navy is all set to induct the Shivalik Class frigates, by March to boost its surface fleet and the warship will be the highlight of the tableau for the Republic Day Parade, apart from the year-long anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
Two Indians are on board the Singaporean ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, official sources said in New Delhi on Sunday.
In the first military stand-off between the two Asian giants since 1986, an Indian submarine and two Chinese warships came close to a confrontation in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, but the situation was resolved when the submarine left the site, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.Though both the Indian and the Chinese government refused to comment on the matter, the report claimed that on January 15, the two warships were followed by the submarine.
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.
A 14-member Indian crew on board a country-made vessel hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden have been rescued in a joint operation by Indian and French warships, the Navy said on Thursday.
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.
"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