Navy prevents hijack in Gulf of Aden, kills 2 pirates

The Indian Navy thwarted a hijack attempt on a foreign merchant vessel with 10 Indians onboard in the notorious Gulf of Aden.

The Indian Navy thwarted a hijack attempt on a foreign merchant vessel with 10 Indians onboard in the notorious Gulf of Aden.

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INS Talwar, a stealth frigate, swung into action after it received a distress call from MV Maud, a vessel registered in Liberia.

Within minutes INS Talwar launched an armed helicopter with marine commandos onboard to prevent pirates, armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenades, from boarding the vessel.
As heli-borne commandos intercepted and engaged the pirates they noticed that two Somali sea brigands were trying to board the vessel.

The Navy fired at the two pirates, who fell into the sea and are believed to have been killed. While another six pirates were arrested, navy sources said on Friday.

MV Maud was sailing 220 nautical miles east of Aden when the pirates started chasing it in a speedboat. The skipper of the vessel was an Indian

The navy recovered AK-47 assault rifles, RPG launchers, grenades and other ammunition from the speedboats used by the pirates.

The navy has busted several hijack attempts since it started carrying out anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden from October last year. Last month, the navy foiled an attack on an Italian cruise liner, but it was later hijacked.