Indian commandos have taken control of a bulker that had been boarded by suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia.
The crew, including 15 Indian seafarers, have been rescued in the operation, which marks yet another piracy incident in the Indian Ocean after several years.
The Lila Global-owned 170,100-dwt Lila Norfolk (built 2006) was boarded by five or six armed intruders on Thursday in the open Arabian Sea, about 450 nautical miles (830 km) off the coast of Somalia.
Following the boarding, the 21 seafarers sought protection in the ship’s citadel.
The attackers apparently did not manage to break into the citadel and abandoned the vessel before help arrived in the shape of the INS Chennai — an Indian warship on anti-piracy operations that tracked the Lila Norfolk and was rushing to assist.
Commandos from the INS Chennai boarded the capesize on Friday afternoon and conducted a thorough search. None of the attackers was found.
“The attempt of hijacking by the pirates was probably abandoned with the forceful warning by … the Indian Naval warship,” the Indian Navy said in a statement on X.
Steve Kunzer, chief executive of Lila Global, said: “We are pleased to advise that the crew of Lila Norfolk have been successfully rescued by the Indian Navy vessel INS Chennai, and the vessel and crew are all safe.
“We want to thank the agencies that assisted in their rescue, in particular the Indian Navy; Captain Rohit Bajpai, director, IFC-IOR [the Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region]; and the officials of DG Shipping.
“We also want to thank the professionalism of our crew who reacted safely and responsibly under the circumstances.”
The INS Chennai was continuing to shadow the Lila Norfolk late on Friday to protect the ship and help it restore power generation and propulsion to continue to its next port of call.
The ship is hauling 164,000 tonnes of iron ore from Brazil to Bahrain, according to Kpler shipping data.
Luckier than the Ruen
The hijacking followed other piracy incidents recently in the Arabian Sea off Eyl, Somalia, after a lull of six years.
In the first, and only successful attack so far, a Bulgarian bulker — the 41,600-dwt Ruen (built 2016) — was hijacked on 14 December, most likely by Somalian pirates, who steered it to the coast of Puntland.
The Ruen’s 18 seafarers locked themselves in the citadel. The pirates managed to break in, seized the crew and took control of the ship.
The Bulgarian government described the incident as a case of piracy and said it expects ransom negotiations to begin.
The attack on the Navibulgar-owned Ruen came a few weeks after the attempted hijacking, apparently also by Somalis, of the 20,000-dwt tanker Central Park (built 2015).
Following these incidents, India’s navy beefed up surveillance of the open Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, deploying destroyers, frigates and aerial surveillance by long-range maritime patrol aircraft and remotely piloted aircraft.
Earlier this week, Indian warships inspected a large number of fishing boats and boarded some “vessels of interest”.
Piracy was rampant off the coast of Somalia for four years from 2008 but has reduced over the past decade.
Maritime lawyer Stephen Askins said it appears that pirates are taking advantage of tensions in the Middle East or as part of a concerted effort to stretch naval forces.
Harry Papachristou contributed to this article
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