'Bharat Mata Ki Jai': Indians on Liberian Ship Cheer; Navy Hunts For Pirates Involved in 'Hijacking'

Chants of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” reverberated in the air after the Indian Navy safely evacuated the hijacked vessel MV Lila Norfolk off Somalia’s coast. The Indian Navy on Friday thwarted the attempted hijacking of Liberian-flagged vessel MV Lila Norfolk and rescued all its crew members.

Fifteen Indians, who were part of the 21-member crew on board the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, thanked the Indian Navy for the timely action and their mid-sea rescue.

In a video posted by the Navy, one of the Indians who was rescued said, “We were stuck for 24 hours. We got relief after the Indian Navy came to rescue us.”

“Proud of the Indian Navy,’ said another man.

Congratulating the Indian Navy for the successful rescue mission, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar mentioned the video of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ chants and called it a picture of ‘changing India’.

“A foreign ship was hijacked in the sea. Indians were also there on that ship. 4 warships of the Indian Navy were sent to rescue them and all the people including Indians were rescued. And after the rescue, they said ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. This is the changing Bharat,” he said while speaking at an event in Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur also praised the Indian Navy and said India is known for the action it takes to safeguard the lives of the people. “From Operation Ganga to rescuing lives from hijacked vessels, there are numerous other examples of what can be done under the leadership of PM Modi,” he said.

Navy Hunts For ‘Hijackers’

In the latest update, Indian Naval forces are on Saturday investigating suspected vessels in the North Arabian Sea to track down the pirates involved in an attempt to hijack a merchant vessel.

Meanwhile, the crew of the bulk carrier are now engaged in restoring the propulsion system, power supply and steering gear of the platform, the Navy said.

“Thereafter, MV Lila Norfolk will recommence her passage to her destination under the escort of the Indian naval warship,” it said.

Dramatic Rescue

The Navy had deployed a warship, maritime patrol aircraft P-8I, helicopters and MQ9B Predator drones to assist the vessel, MV Lila Norfolk, after it sent a message on the UK Maritime Trade Operations portal, saying unknown armed personnel had boarded it on Thursday evening.

In its distress call, the vessel said that five or six “unknown armed personnel” had come on board.

On Friday, the Indian Navy’s elite marine commandos rescued all 21 crew members of the commercial vessel after boarding it from frontline warship INS Chennai.

After carrying out a sanitisation of the entire ship, the commandos confirmed the absence of hijackers on the ship.

The Navy shared videos of the high-voltage drama on the high seas on X that showed commandos going onboard the ship and carrying out their operation.

“The attempt of hijacking by the pirates was probably abandoned with the prompt response and forceful warning,” the Indian Navy said in a statement.

The attempted hijacking comes amid growing concerns over Houthi militants stepping up attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

This is among a series of such maritime incidents witnessed in the strategic waters over the last few weeks. Liberian-flagged vessel MV Chem Pluto, with 21 Indian crew members, was the target of a drone attack off India’s west coast on December 23.

Besides MV Chem Pluto, another commercial oil tanker that was on the way to India came under a suspected drone strike in the Southern Red Sea on the same day. The vessel had a team of 25 Indian crew.

Lila Global Thanks Indian Navy

Lila Global, the company that owns MV Lila Norfolk–thanked the Indian Navy for the successful rescue of the vessel and 21 crew members on board it.

The Indian Navy’s elite marine commandos, also known as Marcos, conducted sanitisation operations, rescuing the crew members onboard the merchant vessel that faced a hijacking attempt by five to six armed personnel near the coast of Somalia on Friday.

In a statement, Lila Global CEO, Steve Kunzer also thanked the Director of Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), the maritime agency that was involved in the entire operation.

“We are pleased to advise that the crew of Lila Norfolk have been successfully rescued by the Indian Navy vessel INS Chennai and the vessel and crew are all safe. We want to thank the Agencies that assisted in their rescue in particular the Indian Navy, Capt Rohit Bajpai, Director IFC-IOR and the officials of DG Shipping. We also want to thank the professionalism of our crew who reacted safely and responsibly under the circumstances. We will provide more updates as more information becomes available to us,” he said.