This is the maritime (ships) traffic around India as on date.
As we can see in the map, a LOT of traffic passes from the north Arabian Sea towards the Persian Gulf. Likewise, the Red Sea (marked in the map) has dense traffic. Most of this traffic is cargo and tankers. Tankers carry fuel and cargo ships carry various things from one country to another. These ships keep international trade going.
What is piracy?
Pirates are sea robbers. they rob ships. Somalia (marked in the map above) is a big center of piracy since the late 1990s. As you can see, traffic off the coast of Somalia is thin. Ships tend to avoid the Somali coast.
What happened in the last 2 months?
In addition to Somali pirates, the Red Sea and North Arabian Sea have also seen attacks by Yemen based Houthis.
On December 23rd, MV Chem Pluto was hit by a drone just off India’s west coast. This ship had 20 Indian crew members. (MV stands for Motor Vessel in a ship’s name).
On December 23rd, a second ship – MV Sai Baba – was attacked by drones in Southern Red Sea.
In response to these attacks by pirates, drones, and Houthis, the Indian Navy placed surveillance and missile ships on the West Coast. This was done to protect ships in Indian waters. A surveillance ship is one that keeps an eye on things. A missile ship has the ability to observe and protect. Missile ships are fighter ships.
On January 1, 2024, the deployment of our naval fleet was:
INS Kolkata on the mouth of the Red Sea.
INS Kochi in south of Yemen – at Socotra Island.
INS Mormugao in west Arabian sea.
INS Chennai in central Arabian Sea.
INS Visakhapatnam in north Arabian Sea.
In addition to these, the Indian Navy also used many surveillance aircraft and drones to keep an eye on the ships in the region (the number of ships being monitored can be guessed from the image above).
What happened on January 4/5?
On January 4th, a Liberian ship called MV Lila Norfolk was hijacked in the North Arabian Sea.
The ship had twenty-one crew members, of which fifteen were Indians. The ship sent an SOS message which was received by the Indian Navy.
INS Chennai was diverted from patrol duty and asked to save the ship.
At 1515 hours India time on January 5th, The Marine Commandos (MARCOS) of the Indian Navy boarded MV Lila Norfolk and rescued all 21 crew members, who were placed in a single room. Then, they covered the entire ship to make sure that none of the hijackers was present on the ship.
So, they saved the ship. Then, they made arrangements for the ship to sail further. This was a very unique rescue.
Who are the Houthis?
Houthis are a military group belonging to Shia Islam. This means they get support from the Iranian government. Their objective is political rule over Yemen. Since December, they have also been attacking military and cargo vessels in the Red Sea. They say that they want to attack Israeli ships, but the attacks have been on ships from all countries. They also attacked three US military helicopters.