An Indian Navy warship was heading to the aid of a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier on Friday after it was hijacked by a group of armed men in a suspected piracy attack.
The Lila Global-owned 170,100-dwt Lila Norfolk (built 2006) was boarded by five or six armed intruders on Thursday off the coast of Somalia, according to maritime security companies.
At least 15 crew members were on board the Dubai-managed vessel and made it to the citadel after spotting the boarding party, according to news agency ANI and security company Diaplous.
The Indian warship, the INS Chennai, on piracy patrol in the Arabian Sea, diverted to help while a naval aircraft flew over the hijacked vessel.
“The aircraft overflew the vessel on early morning of 05 Jan 24 and established contact with the vessel, ascertaining the safety of the crew,” the Navy said in a statement.
The navy said earlier this week that it had investigated a large number of fishing vessels and boarded some “vessels of interest” during operations to protect Indian merchant ships in the Arabian Sea.
Security analyst group Ambrey Analytics said that the ship was Lila Global’s Lila Norfolk. It was hauling 164,000 tonnes of iron ore from Brazil to Bahrain, according to Kpler shipping data.
Lila Global bought the Japanese-built vessel in April last year, when named CHS Splendor, from China’s Cosco Shipping for close to $16.3m.
Lila Global has been contacted for comment.
The boarding of the Lila Norfolk was some 460 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, south-east of Eyl, Diaplous said. The area off Eyl has been linked to a resurgence of piracy in recent weeks.
The security company said it assessed that pirates were likely to blame given the location of the incident and a similar suspected case of piracy.
A Bulgarian ship, the 41,600-dwt Ruen (built 2016), was hijacked on 14 December, most likely by Somalian pirates.
The Bulgarian government said the incident on the Ruen was a likely case of piracy and was expecting ransom negotiations. The incident was one of the first for years with the last successful hijacking in 2017.
The Ruen’s 18 seafarers managed to lock themselves in the citadel but the pirates broke into it and seized the crew, reports said.
The attack on the Ruen followed an attempted hijacking of the 20,000-dwt tanker Central Park (built 2015) by Somalis a few weeks earlier.
Piracy was rampant off the coast of Somalia for four years from 2008 but has reduced over the past decade.
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