Indian naval forces have successfully freed an Iranian fishing vessel and its crew of 20 following a hijacking off the coast of Somalia. According to India's Defense Ministry, the rescue operation, which lasted more than 48 hours, was completed on Monday in the Arabian Sea, located over 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) from Mumbai.
The vessel, identified as the Azini, had been hijacked on October 29 between the towns of Bandar Bayla and Hafun. The rescue mission involved a coordinated effort by an Indian warship, a maritime surveillance aircraft, and marine commandos. To bolster the operation, an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft was deployed to airdrop additional commandos, the ministry stated. Indian forces tracked the vessel by both sea and air before ultimately securing it.
An official with the Puntland Maritime Police Force, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Indian forces disarmed 12 suspected Somali pirates and confiscated their mobile phones. These suspects, along with two Somali security guards who were aboard the ship, were released and later arrived at Bandar Bayla in northeastern Somalia. The official noted that three of those who came ashore sustained minor injuries, though the specific identities of the injured individuals were not clarified.
While India's ministry reported that the entire operation concluded without casualties or injuries, there remains a discrepancy regarding the total number of people on board. A Puntland maritime police officer previously stated on Sunday that the vessel carried 21 Iranian crew members and two Somali security guards. India's official figures reported 20 crew members rescued, a difference that remains unexplained. It was also not immediately clear whether the crew remained on the vessel or were relocated during the mission.
Authorities had expressed significant concern that the pirates intended to use the Azini as a floating base to launch further attacks on commercial shipping. This incident occurs amid a broader resurgence of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean. Since April, pirates have hijacked six commercial vessels, including the tanker Sibu 1 and the MT Honour 25, the latter of which saw five crew members killed before security forces recovered the ship in September.
These maritime security threats have added significant complexity to regional shipping, which is already disrupted by the ongoing war involving Iran. The combination of piracy and threats from Yemen’s Houthi rebels has forced many vessels to divert their routes around Africa, resulting in significantly longer transit times and increased costs for oil transport.
FILE – Fishermen stand on the Indian Ocean beach at dusk in the former pirate village of Eyl, in Somalia's semiautonomous northeastern state of Puntland, Somalia, March 6, 2017. Ben Curtis/AP hide caption
The hijacking followed a resurgence of Somali piracy across the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean. By August, pirates had hijacked six commercial vessels since April, some far from Somalia's coast. They included the oil products tanker Sibu 1, seized about 252 kilometers (136 nautical miles) east of al-Mukalla, Yem
