An Indian sailor was killed and several others rescued during an anti-piracy operation in Somalia. Security forces retook control of the hijacked fuel tanker MT Honour 25, apprehending 16 suspected pirates. Other Indian seafarers from different vessels were also safely repatriated amidst a resurgence of piracy in the region.
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.
In a calibrated operation, the Indian Navy on Saturday 'coerced' 35 Pirates onboard a merchant ship around 1,400 nautical miles from the Indian coast to surrender and ensured the safe evacuation of 17 crew members without any injury, officials said.
Eleven Indians, who were hijacked by Somali pirates 11 months ago, were released on Wednesday. Babu, father of Roji V John, a second officer in a cargo ship and a native of Pathanamthitta district, told PTI that authorities of the Rack International company, which owns the ship, handed over the ransom amount. John was part of the 26-member crew of M V Rack Africana, which was hijacked on April 10, 2010 while on its way to Morali in Africa.
Gujarat police on Monday arrested fourteen Somali pirates and three Yemeni nationals after they reached the Gujarat coast after being stranded for a month in the sea without food or water.
Deploying helicopter gunships and airborne troops, the European Union on Tuesday for the first time struck land bases of Somali pirates, sinking five fast patrol boats of the sea-bandits, who have plagued vital oil shipping lanes across the Indian Ocean.
Ending a six-month ordeal, the crew of nine Indian and 12 Iranian sailors of cargo ship MV Sinin was freed on Saturday by Somali pirates. "Nine Indian sailors along with 12 Iranians of M V Sinin have been released by the pirates today. All of them are safe," said Director General of Shipping S B Agnihotri. The Somali pirates had on February 12 seized the Malta-flagged, 52,000 tonne bulk carrier 315 nautical miles off Masirah (Oman) while it was on its way to Singapore.
Somali pirates have released a Greek-owned oil tanker with 26 crew members, including 11 Indians, after holding them captive for ten months, the vessel's operating company said on Tuesday.
Indian Navy has foiled an attack by Somali pirates on a merchant ship, west of the Lakshadweep Islands, by apprehending 16 Somali pirates and rescued 16 hostages.
The government of Egypt and Dubai has complained to India about the excessive media coverage given to relatives of the kidnapped Indian sailors by Somali pirates. According to them, the hype by the Indian media is not helping negotiators who are trying to strike a deal with pirates for the early release of the sailors.
Somali pirates have struck again, this time taking hostage 11 men hailing from Gujarat's Kutch district who were working on a Dubai-based cargo vessel. "According to information received late last night, some 11 men from Mandvi who were working on the Dubai-based vessel Al-Barari were taken hostage after Somalian pirates hijacked the ship from near the port of Mogadishu," Kutch Vahanvati Association president Kasam Ali Bholim told PTI.
Twenty two hostages, including five Indians, who had been kidnapped by Somali pirates nearly three years ago have been freed. Forces of Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region said their maritime force began the operation to free the hostages, and their ship, nearly two weeks ago.
Aman Kumar Sharma from Himachal Pradesh, an Indian national, was among the 11 crew members of a ship freed after being held hostage for nearly four years by Somali pirates, with a top United Nations official calling for the release of all remaining captives.
Suspected Somali pirates on Tuesday hijacked an Italian cargo vessel with 18 crew, including seven Indian seafarers, off the coast of Oman.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a public interest litigation seeking direction to the government to frame effective anti-piracy guidelines in the wake of increasing incidents of Indian seamen being held hostages by Somali pirates.
On December 17, heavily-armed pirates stormed a German oil tanker SP Brussels belonging to the Medallion Marine company. They went on to loot the ship and took hostage five Indian sailors.
A group of sailors taken hostage by Somali pirates nearly two years ago have appealed to the government to get them released from captivity.
Somali pirates are "shifting their location" towards India, but the country is watchful to deal with such threats, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said.
Somali pirates released seven Indian sailors on Friday by after remaining in captivity for about four years. The sailor will be back in India over the weekend.
Fifteen Somali and Ethiopian pirates apprehended by the Indian Navy after a gunbattle off the Lakshadweep coast while trying to loot a foreign merchant vessel were on Monday placed under arrest and would face the Indian law for the first time.
In a major operation, the Indian Navy intercepted a pirate mother ship, rescuing 13 crew members, and arrested 61 Somali sea brigands nearly 600 nautical miles off the western coast. "Vega 5, a pirate mother vessel, was intercepted by fast attack craft INS Kalpeni and 61 pirates were apprehended and 13 crew members rescued," a Navy spokesperson said on Monday. The pirates and their ship were being brought to Mumbai for further investigations, the spokesperson said.
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.
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.
Security agencies are probing any possible link between Somalian pirates and Pakistan-based terror groups. Somalian pirates were now operating eastwards from their country and moving towards India and posed a threat to all merchant vessels passing through the high seas between India and the Maldives, Indian Coast Guard Director General Vice Admiral Anil Chopra said in New Delhi.
The coming together of Lashkar-e-Tayiba and southern Somalia-based Al-Shahbab poses new maritime protection issues for India.
Twenty one Indian sailors aboard the ship MV Fairchem Bogey, which was hijacked last August, have been released by the pirates, the Directorate General of Shipping said on Saturday. This is the second piece of good news for the Indian seafaring community within a fortnight. Seventeen sailors from a hijacked Iranian ship had been released late in December. "All the 21 sailors are safe and the ship is now on its way to a safe port," said Director General of Shipping.
Pirates are holding 45 crew members, including Indians after they seized a UK-flagged chemical tanker and a Panamanian carrier off the piracy infested Somalia's coast, a top official of the maritime watchdog said in Kuala Lumpur.
Two commercial vessels, an oil tanker and a cargo ship, carrying a total of 22 Indian nationals, were hijacked by armed pirates in separate incidents off Yemen and Somalia. All Indian crew members on both vessels are reported to be safe, according to the latest information from the shipping ministry and the External Affairs Ministry.
"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.
The preventive patrolling by navies of different countries has not denied Somali pirates the availability of pockets where they can still pounce on unsuspecting ships and hijack them. This is because of a lack of co-ordination in patrolling, writes security expert B Raman
After sinking three pirate ships in the last two months, the Indian Navy on Tuesday said there may be three to four more such mother ships in the region. "There may be three to four more such mother ships of Somali pirates in the region and our ships and aircraft are already there on a look out for them," navy sources said in New Delhi.
Thirteen Iranians were rescued by a US Navy destroyer on Thursday, more than 40 days after their boat was commandeered by suspected Somali pirates in the northern Arabian Sea.
After 56 days in captivity, the Saudi supertanker seized in the world's biggest ship hijacking was freed by Somali pirates for a USD 3 million ransom and is set to leave on Saturday.
Five Somalians have been sentenced to life followed by 80 years in prison for engaging in piracy and related offences for their attack on American frigate USS Nicholas.The Somalis were indicted on April 21 and were later charged with additional crimes in a 14-count superseding indictment.On April 1, 2010, Hasan, Ali and Dire boarded one of these smaller vessels and set out to pirate what they believed to be a merchant ship.
The National Investigation Agency is probing the sinister link between terrorists and pirates, reports Vicky Nanjappa
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.
Over 260 pirate attacks were witnessed on world's seas in the first six months of the year, most of them by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea, but the number of hijacks went down due to strong international naval patrolling on the Eastern coast of Africa.
At least 24 Indians were taken hostage by Somali pirates, who hjacked an Indian-managed and Panamanian-flagged ship near Seychelles on Thursday, officials said.
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.
Using rocket launchers and submachine guns, suspected Somali pirates abducted 17 Indian and five Italian sailors after hijacking a large Italian-flagged oil tanker in the Indian Ocean.
