Indian navy ship frees fishing vessel

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s navy said Tuesday it had freed an Iranian fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates, the second in as many days, after the latest attack on Indian Ocean shipping.

The warship INS Sumitra “compelled the safe release” of the 19 Pakistani crew members and the Iranian-flagged Al Naeemi fishing vessel, the spokesperson said.

A total of “11 Somali pirates” had taken the crew hostage, the navy said.

Photographs released by the navy showed Somali pirates wielding AK-47 rifles standing on the boat, and another with a navy helicopter hovering overhead.

Further photographs showed commandos boarding the fishing boat in the dark, then standing with rifles over a group of pirates, the men kneeling at their feet with their hands tied behind their backs on the ship’s deck.

The rescue took place overnight Monday off the Somali coast, some 1,574 kilometers west of the Indian city of Kochi.

It came just 36 hours after India said its forces had freed 17 crew members of the Iranian-flagged Iman fishing vessel, also taken by Somali pirates.

In a third case, commandos from the Seychelles on Monday freed the Sri Lankan fishing vessel Lorenzo Putha-4 and safely rescued its six-man crew.

That boat had been hijacked three days earlier by Somali gunmen about 1,555 kilometers southeast of Mogadishu, the capital of impoverished and war-ravaged Somalia.