Navy's marine commandos foiled a piracy bid 450 nautical miles off Mumbai, slithering from a Sea King helicopter and taking the crew of a merchant ship, locked in compartments, to safety, while a helicopter provided air borne fire support.
Merchant ship MV BBC Orinoco with a crew of 14, including five from Ukraine and nine Philippinos, yesterday reported being attacked by pirates, a Defence spokesperson said.
"The crew locked themselves in the ship's engine room and the steering compartment and communicated with their agents, UK MTO Dubai, via e-mail," he said.
On receipt of this information, the Indian Navy promptly detached one of its Missile Corvettes, INS Veer, to intercept the distressed vessel and also sailed a capital ship INS Delhi with a team of Marine Commandos.
A Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft was extensively deployed for aerial surveillance. The Indian Coast Guard, too, responded, adjusting all routine deployments to keep one or more Dornier aircraft on standby, besides asking their ships on assigned mission to be also on stand-by.
MARCOS slithered onto the merchant ship from a Sea King helicopter and took the crew to safety. MV BBC Orinoco is a General Cargo Carrier registered in Antigua and Barbuda.
Naval personnel boarded the ship and a thorough search is currently in progress. The ship will set course for its destination once the boarding party reports all clear, he said.
Items like crow bar, knives were found aboard the ship.
