Indian Navy assisted a Panama-flagged crude oil tanker with 30 crew members including 22 Indians after the vessel came under missile attack from Houthi militants
Representation Pic/File
The Indian Navy assisted a Panama-flagged crude oil tanker with 30 crew members including 22 Indians after the vessel came under missile attack from Houthi militants, according to a PTI news report.
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Indian Navy's destroyer ship INS Kochi responded following the attack on the vessel, MV Andromeda Star, on April 26, the officials said.
They said that all the crew members onboard the ship were safe, as per the PTI.
The US Central Command said that the Iranian-backed Houthi militants launched three anti-ship ballistic missiles from Yemen into the Red Sea in the vicinity of merchant vessel Maisha and MV Andromeda Star. MV Andromeda Star is a Panaman-flagged and Seychelles-operated vessel. The vessel reported minor damage, the US Central Command said, the PTI reported.
"A mission deployed Indian Naval destroyer INS Kochi responded to a maritime security incident involving the attack on Panama-flagged crude oil tanker MV Andromeda Star on April 26," the Indian Navy said. The vessel was intercepted by the Indian Navy ship and an aerial recce involving a helicopter operation was undertaken to assess the situation, it said, according to the PTI.
An Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team of the Indian Navy was also deployed to carry out "residual risk assessment", the Navy said in a statement.
"A total of 30 crew including 22 Indian nationals are reported to be safe and the vessel is continuing its scheduled transit to the next port," it said.
"The swift action of the Indian Navy ship reiterates the commitment and resolve of the Indian Navy in safeguarding the seafarers plying through the region," it said, the news agency reported on Sunday.
The fresh incident of a missile attack comes amid growing global concerns over attacks on various commercial vessels in the Red Sea allegedly by the Houthi militants.
In the last few weeks, the Indian Navy extended assistance to a number of merchant vessels in the Western Indian Ocean following attacks on them.
Heroin worth Rs 600 crore seized from Pakistani boat off Gujarat coast; 14 held
Meanwhile, in an another incident, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has seized 86 kg of drugs worth Rs 600 crore from a Pakistani boat and arrested 14 persons on board the vessel off the Gujarat coast, the maritime security agency said on Sunday, according to the ANI.
The overnight operation in the Arabian Sea was carried out in coordination with the Gujarat Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), it said in a release.
This was the 11th such successful joint operation in the past three years involving the Coast Guard and the ATS, it said, seeking to underscore the synergy between the two agencies.
A top Gujarat police official said heroin was seized from the boat.
"In a breathtaking overnight operation, Indian Coast Guard undertook an intelligence-based anti-narcotics operation at sea on 28 Apr 24. Approx 86 kg of narcotics worth Rs 600 crore has been apprehended along with 14 crew from the Pakistani boat," the agency said in a release, according to the ANI.
(with PTI and ANI inputs)
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