Liberian-flagged vessel reports hijack, Indian Navy commandos rescue crew

In a swift operation, Indian Navy marine commandos have rescued all 15 Indian crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged cargo ship, barely 20 hours after it reported a hijack off the northeastern coast of Africa, officials said on Friday.

The MV Lila Norfolk was taken over early on Friday by five-six pirates about 550 km off the Somalian coast on its voyage from Port Du Aco in Brazil to Khalifa Bin Salman in Bahrain.

Responding swiftly to the distress call, the warship INS Chennai was diverted from her anti-piracy patrol to the spot and intercepted the hijacked ship at around 3.15 pm in the Arabian Sea.

The elite Marine Commandos then boarded the MV Lila Norfolk and initiated sanitisation operations. Prior to the operation, the Liberian-flag vessel was kept under continuous surveillance using maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters, and the Predator MQ9B.

Early on Friday, the hijacked ship had sent an SOS to the UK Maritime Trade Operations portal indicating that a group of armed persons had boarded it late on Thursday.

This was the third incident of its kind in the high seas on the country's west coast in the past one month, or with the Indian Navy rising to the occasion with a rescue and relief operation. On 23 December 2023, another Liberian-flagged oil tanker MV Chem Pluto, with 21 Indian crew members on board, was targeted in a drone attack followed by a similar attack on a Gabon-flagged crude oil carrier MV Saibaba on 24 December, with 25 Indians on board, but there were no casualties in either incident.