Ship carrying 9 Indians attacked in Gulf of Aden, Indian Navy comes to rescue
Marshall Island flagged MV Genco Picardy following a drone attack
The geopolitical tensions in the Red Sea saw a further escalation when a Marshall Island flagged MV Genco Picardy came under a drone attack in the Gulf of Aden, a critical maritime route that connects the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.In response to the incident, the Indian Navy deployed its warship INS Visakhapatnam in the region and came to the rescue of the ship hit amid the rampant attacks by Houthis on the shipping route.
The prompt action by the Indian Navy was taken after it received a distress call, soon after which it intercepted the vessel to extend assistance.
In a statement on its X social media handle, the India Navy wrote, "IndianNavy's Guided Missile Destroyer INSVisakhapatnam, mission deployed in GulfofAden for antipiracy ops, swiftly responded to distress call by Marshall Island flagged MV GencoPicardy following a drone attack at 2311 hrs on 17 Jan 24 & intercepted the MV at 0030 hrs on 18 Jan 24 to provide assistance."
Fortunately, there were zero casualtiesin the incident. Explosive Ordnance Disposal expert carried out a complete inspection of and cleared the ship for its next port.
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"MV Genco Picardy with 22 crew (including 09 Indians) reported nil casualties & fire under control. EOD specialist from INS Visakhapatnam boarded MV in the early hours of 18 Jan. Damaged area was thoroughly inspected & rendered safe by EOD specialists for trasiting to the next port of call," the Indian Navy added.
In a separate incident on December 23, a Liberian-flagged vessel MV Chem Pluto, with 21 Indian crew members onboard, came under a drone attack off India's west coast. On the same day, a chemical tanker MV Chem Pluto caught fire after a drone strike hit the vessel. However, there were no casualties reported in the incident which took placeroughly 200 nautical miles (370 km) off the coast of the Indian state of Gujarat.
Reuters quoting United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said Wednesday (Jan 17) that the agency received information regarding a vessel. As per UKMTO, the strike was carried out by an "uncrewed aerial system" nearly 60 nautical miles southeast of Aden in Yemen.
(Withinputs from agencies)