The Indian Navy has deployed one more warship, INS Mormugao in the Arabian Sea amid the series of attacks on merchant ships in the region. This comes two days after merchant vessel – MV Chem Pluto — was hit by a drone off the Indian coastline in the Sea.
“Considering the recent spate of attacks in the Arabian Sea, Indian Navy has deployed guided missile destroyers, INS Mormugao, INS Kochi and INS Kolkata, in various areas to maintain a deterrent presence,” the official said.
The Indian Navy has also deployed P-8I long-range patrol aircraft for regular surveillance and to maintain domain awareness.
The Navy’s explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team on Monday carried out an extensive inspection of the merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto upon its arrival at Mumbai Harbour. This comes two days after the merchant ship was struck by a drone off the Indian coastline in the Arabian Sea.
MV Chem Pluto was on its way to the New Mangalore port. Earlier, the Navy analysis also confirmed that MV Chem Pluto was hit by a drone 400 km of the Indian coastline, NDTV reported.
Navy officials said that the debris found on the ship indicated a drone attack and further analysis of the vessel is currently underway.
The ship with a 21-member crew — 20 Indians and one Vietnamese — arrived at the Mumbai Port on Monday, under the surveillance of Indian Coast Guard ship Vikram.
The drone attack on the Liberian-flagged MV Chem Pluto on Saturday came in the backdrop of rising concerns over merchant vessels reportedly being the targets of Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
A Pentagon spokesperson on Sunday said that MV Chem Pluto was struck by “a one-way attack drone fired from Iran”.
Following this, a joint investigation was launched by various agencies following the complete analysis of the ship by the EOD team, the Indian Navy spokesperson said.
“MV Chem Pluto has been cleared for further operation by her company-in-charge at Mumbai. The ship is scheduled to undergo mandatory checks by the various inspecting authorities before undertaking ship to ship transfer of cargo,” the spokesperson noted.
Following this the vessel will be docked and its damaged portion will be repaired.
Officials said that now three guided missile destroyers have been deployed in the Arabian Sea.
Reports say that MV Chem Pluto, carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia’s Al Jubail port to New Mangalore port, was struck about 217 nautical miles from Porbandar on Saturday.
On the same day, a Gabon-flagged commercial crude oil tanker with a 25-member Indian crew also came under a drone attack in the Southern Red Sea. Thankfully, as per Indian officials and the US military, no one was injured.
In addition to the Indian Navy deploying three warships in the region, the Navy spokesperson also noted that, “Western Naval Command’s Maritime Operations Centre is actively monitoring the situation in close coordination with Coast Guard and all concerned agencies,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
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