Indian Navy foils pirates’ bid to attack Greek vessel

An Indian Navy warship foiled a pirate attack on a Greek merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden when it launched a helicopter and marine commandoes forcing eight Somali pirates to abandon the plan.

Indian Naval Ship Godavari, on anti-piracy patrol escort operation since May 25 in the region responded to a distress call from MV Elinakos in the early hours of July 16 while escorting four other ships in the Gulf of Aden.

“The INS Godavari was quick to launch a helicopter to locate the skiff being used by the pirates and subsequently launched marine commandos to board the pirate boat. On being approached by the naval boat, they dumped their arms, ammunition and other piracy triggers’’, Indian Navy spokesman said.

A German naval ship, the Niedersachsen, also coordinated with INS Godavari in the operation, which continued with the escort mission, on completion of the operation.

Since it deployment in May this year, INS Godavari has safely escorted 219 ships of various countries and last week, the warship escorted a Pakistani ship, the MV Islamabad, with an all-Pakistani crew of 38.

The Indian Navy has been deploying ships since 2008 in the Gulf of Aden for escorting merchant vessels and Indian Naval ships have escorted 1,665 ships successfully.