Navy Commandos Get On Hijacked Ship With 15 Indians On Board

Abandon ship, Indian Navy sounded the alert to pirates as its elite marine commandos arrived on the cargo ship, 'MV Lila Norfolk', that was hijacked late last evening near the coast of Somalia, military officials said on Friday.

The elite commandos, MARCOS, are carrying out the sanitisation operations.  

Around 15 Indian crew members are aboard the ship in the Arabian Sea.

The hijacking was reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a British military organisation that tracks movements of various vessels in strategic waterways.

The Indian crew on board are safe, military officials told news agency ANI.

Naval warship INS Chennai, a navy destroyer, that was diverted from her anti-piracy patrol, has launched its helicopter and issued warning to pirates to abandon the hijacked vessel.

Last month the Navy deployed several warships into the sea to "maintain a deterrent presence" after a string of recent shipping attacks, including a drone attack near India's coast blamed on 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 carried out drone and missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas.

Last month a drone attack hit the MV Chem Pluto tanker 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) off the coast of India.