Indian defence forces rescue hijacked vessel

The Indian defence forces have informed that an Indian naval warship, INS Chennai, has reached the hijacked vessel, MV Lila Norfolk, off Somalia's coast. The Indian Navy commandos have boarded the hijacked ship. ‘All 21 crew (including 15 Indians) onboard safely evacuated’, the Navy informed.

The Indian warship has reportedly launched a helicopter and issued warnings to pirates to abandon the hijacked vessel.

The Navy informed that the hijacked vessel MV Lila Norfolk has been kept under surveillance by its maritime patrol aircraft and predator drone in the Arabian Sea.

According to reports, Indian Navy commandos carried out "sanitisation" operations in the Arabian Sea. All the crew, including 15 Indians, onboard the hijacked vessel MV Lila Norfolk have been secured and are safe.

The Indian crew on board are safe and Marine Commandos MARCOS are ready for operations. At least 15 Indian crew members were on board the vessel, which was hijacked near Somalia's coast and the Navy received information about it on Thursday evening.

“INS Chennai diverted from her Anti Piracy patrol and intercepted the MV at 1515hrs today, on 5th Jan. MV was kept under continuous surveillance using Maritime Patrol Aircraft, Predator MQ9B and integral helos. The Indian Navy Marine Commandos present onboard the Mission Deployed warship boarded the MV and have commenced the Sanitisation", the Indian Navy said.