The Indian Navy’s elite marine commandos on Friday successfully carried out an operation to intercept a hijacked merchant vessel and rescue several crew members, including at least 15 Indians. The Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk was hijacked off the coast of Somalia.

The Navy deployed a warship, maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters, P-8I, and long-range aircraft, along with Predator MQ9B drones following the incident involving MV Lila Norfolk.

“All 21 crew members, including 15 Indians, onboard the vessel, were safely evacuated from the citadel,” said Indian Navy’s spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal.

“The sanitisation carried out by MARCOs commandos confirmed the absence of hijackers. The attempted hijacking by the pirates was likely abandoned following a forceful warning by the Indian Navy’s maritime patrol aircraft regarding interception by naval warships,” he added.

Providing details of the rescue operation, Navy officials mentioned that the Indian warship INS Chennai intercepted the hijacked ship around 3:15 pm on Friday and instructed the approximately five pirates to abandon the vessel.

The Indian Navy Marine Commandos boarded the hijacked ship and commenced sanitisation. MV Lila Norfolk was hijacked late on Thursday near the coast of Somalia. The hijacking was reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a British military organisation that tracks movements of various vessels in strategic waterways.

Following the incident, the Indian Navy deployed its destroyer INS Chennai, and a Navy aircraft constantly tracked the hijacked ship. It was hijacked by pirates 300 nautical miles east of Somalia. The ship was sailing from Port Du Aco (Brazil) and was bound for Khalifa Bin Salman in Bahrain.

The Indian Navy’s maritime patrol aircraft overflew the vessel early Friday and established contact with the vessel, ascertaining the safety of the crew, officials said.

“The Indian Navy remains committed to ensuring the safety of merchant shipping in the region along with international partners and friendly foreign countries,” the spokesperson added.

Last month, the Navy deployed several warships into the sea to “maintain a deterrent presence” after a series of recent shipping attacks, including a drone attack near India’s coast attributed to Iran by the United States.

The latest attack comes at a time when many vessels have been rerouted from the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have conducted drone and missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid Israel’s conflict with Hamas.

In the previous month, a drone attack targeted the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India.