Somali pirates strike again, Indian Navy sinks a pirate vessel off Somali coast

by Sanjay Jha | November 18, 2008 at 10:44 pm

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Even as discussions are on about the fate of world's largest supertanker the Saudi Sirius Star, Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden had seized a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat to Iran yesterday in the latest of the near-daily attacks threatening one of the world's busiest shipping routes. Hijacking of Hong Kong cargo vessel is seventh successful seizure in 12 days.

The Delight, with 25 crew on board, was captured off Yemen, the seventh successful hijacking in the past 12 days. The US navy, whose patrols along Somalia's coast appear to be having little effect on the pirates, said the ship belonged to Iran's state shipping line.

A British tanker also came under attack yesterday, but the pirates were thwarted when the German frigate Karlsruhe launched a helicopter to intercept them. Eight or nine speedboats of heavily armed bandits attacked the British tanker Trafalgar, which radioed the German ship for help. It sent a Sea King and the pirates fled, the German navy said.

Even as the world's largest supertanker the Saudi Sirius Star continues to be in the grip of pirates of the coast of Somalia, the Indian Navy appears to have taken the lead in the fight against pirates. Lately Many ships with Indian crew on board has been hijacked by Pirates.

Within days of preventing the hijack of an Indian merchant vessel, Indian Navy’s warship INS Tabar, after exchange of fire, sank a pirate vessel off the Somali coast.

According to reports, the Indian Navy acted definitively after a group of pirate vessels tried to encircle the Indian warship with the motive to attack it. After a brief exchange of light fire, the warship hit the pirate vessel leading to its sinking. The incident happened at around 9.45 pm Tuesday night. No casualities were reported from the Indian side.

The Indian warship, the INS Tabar, was dispatched to the Gulf of Aden in October after a spike in piracy and hijackings off the coast of Somalia, which is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has had no functioning government since 1991.