Zeenews Bureau
Gulf of Aden, Nov 19: Within days of preventing the hijack of an Indian merchant vessel, Indian Navy’s warship INS Tabar, after exchange of fire, sank a pirate vessel off the Somali coast.
The stealth frigate INS Tabar, which is currently in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden for Anti-Piracy Surveillance and Patrol Operations, was fired at by pirates on board a ship suspected to be the 'mother vessel' late Tuesday.
“INS Tabar encountered a pirate vessel in south-west of Oman with two speedboats in tow. This vessel was similar in description to the 'mother vessel' mentioned in various piracy bulletins. INS Tabar closed in on the vessel and asked her to stop for investigation,” Indian Navy spokesperson Neerad Sinha said.
Following repeated calls, the vessel threatened to blow up the INS Tabar if it closed in.
“Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of the vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers. The vessel continued threatening calls and subsequently fired upon INS Tabar.
“On being fired upon, INS Tabar retaliated in self defence and opened fire on the mother vessel. As a result, fire broke out on the pirate vessel and explosions were heard, possibly due to exploding ammunition that was stored on the vessel,” Sinha said.
Amidst all the action, two speedboats broke off to escape.
“INS Tabar chased the first boat which was later found abandoned. The other boat made good its escape into darkness,” Sinha added.
The Indian warship, the INS Tabar, was dispatched to the Gulf of Aden in October after a spike in piracy and hijackings off the coast of Somalia, which is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has had no functioning government since 1991.
It is the third of the Talwar-class frigates of the Indian Navy. INS Tabar is the first vessel in the Talwar class to be armed with supersonic BrahMos (PJ-10) Anti-ship cruise missiles.
Meanwhile, another ship has been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden waters. The ship was flying a Hong Kong flag but is operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The status of the crew or its cargo remains unknown.
NATO has also expressed concerns about the growing incidences of piracy in the crucial shipping lane along the Gulf of Aden. The worldwide concern was triggered after yesterday’s hijack of an Saudi oil tanker – considered of the biggest- by pirates in the same region.
The hijacking, in fact led to a one dollar rise in the crude oil prices.
This is the second successful strike by the Indian Navy within a week. It may be noted that last Tuesday the Indian warship foiled an attempt by the pirates to hijack an Indian and a Saudi ship off the Somalian coast.
The incident happened when the pirates on power-boats attacked Saudi Arabia-registered merchant vessel "MV Timaha," and half an hour later a second group tried to board a 38,000-tonne bulk carrier owned by India's Great Eastern Shipping Co
INS Tabar patrolling the area responded to a distress call by "MV Timaha" and sent an attack helicopter carrying commandos which opened fire while the pirates were making repeated attempts to board the Saudi ship
This year has seen a spurt in the pirates’ activities off the Somalian coast and till now there have been nearly 90 such attacks. In the last 12 days itself they have hijacked seven ships in the Gulf of Aden, the latest being an Iranian cargo vessel