Indian Navy Has Protected 3,440 Ships And 25,000 Seafarers From Pirates At Sea Since 2008

The regular deployment of the Indian Navy’s maritime assets has helped enable the safe passage of fishing and merchant vessels encountering the threats of piracy.

Ajay Bhatt, the Minister of State for Defence, informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday that since 2008, India’s Navy has deployed many units in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Africa toward anti-piracy patrols.

A total of 3,440 ships and over 25,000 seafarers have been safely escorted. Bhatt had been replying to a question that the lawmakers raised. Around 110 vessels belonging to India’s Navy have been deployed since 2008.

Including the three most recent ones, seven cases of hijacking of vessels on the high seas by pirates have been reported over the past three years, Bhatt explained.

In a hijacking incident of a merchant vessel dubbed the Lila Norfolk, 21 crew members were present. The number included 15 nationals from India on January 4 and 5. Besides, two hijacking incidents took place and involved fishing vessels IMAN (Jan 28) and fishing vessel dubbed the AI Naeemi (Jan 29), which did not have Indian crew members on board, he said.

Indian Navy units are regularly deployed on mission-based deployments in particular areas of interest in the Indian Ocean Region to enhance maritime security.

Indian Navy units undertake surveillance to enhance maritime domain awareness and address the contingencies that can come up. The Indian Navy has proactively contacted regional and extra-regional navies and naval forces to boost maritime security and safety in the Indian Ocean Region.

The Joint Exclusive Economic Zone (abbreviated as the EEZ), bilateral and multilateral maritime exercises, surveillance, and coordinated patrols (abbreviated as CORPATs) with friendly foreign nations are being undertaken by India’s Navy to bolster maritime security and countering non-conventional threats inclusively and cooperatively, per Bhatt.

Further, to strengthen regional maritime security, the centre has set up the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (abbreviated as the IFC-IOR), which has connections to 25 partner countries and more than 40 international multinational organizations for real-time information exchange to boost maritime security, mentioned the minister.

Besides, owing to the ongoing maritime security scenario in the region, Indian Navy units are being deployed in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, the North and Central Arabian Seas, and off Somalia’s coast to safeguard merchant vessels and render aid, if needed.

Reference: Indian Express

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