An Indian coast guard ship C-425 on Saturday conducted medical evacuation of a 59 yrs old Indian crew suffering from chest pain onboard the Liberian flagged merchant vessel Lila Lisbon off the Paradip port.

The evacuation was carried out by the Indian crew at 19: 50 hours on March 16, the India Coast Guard said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “ICG Ship subsequently handed over the patient to the shipping agent at Paradip for further medical management,” the Indian Coast Guard noted.

On Saturday, the INS Kolkata also conducted 40-hour rescue mission, coercing at least 35 pirates to surrender and achieving the safe extraction of 17 crew members from the pirate vessel Ruen, approximately 2600 km away from the Indian Coast. ““In the operation, Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft had picked up Marine Commandos in large numbers from an air base on the west coast of India and then airdropped them in the Arabian Sea near the hijacked vessel around 2600 Km away from Indian shores,” Indian Navy said in a statement.

It added, “Special boats of commandos were also airdropped separately on the location in which they moved towards the vessel and carried out the operation.”

India warding off hijacking attempts of commercial vessels

The Indian Coast Guard has been warding off the hijacking attempts of the commercial vessels from the pirates in the Arabian Sea. The crew rescued the Liberian-flagged merchant vessel after its attempted hijack in January. As many as 21 crew members, including 15 Indians, were rescued from the MV Lila Norfolk after they intercepted the vessel, but the pirates were not found.

The Indian Coast Guard responded to the hijacking distress call by the Liberian flagged vessel from its location off Somalia’s coast in the North Arabian Sea. After rescuing the crew members on board the vessel, Indian coast guards also carried out the “sanitisation” operations on the ship.

“The attempt of hijacking by the pirates was probably abandoned with the forceful warning by the Indian Navy, marine patrol aircraft, of interception by an Indian Naval warship,” the Indian Navy later informed in a statement. Indian Navy’s warship INS Chennai assisted in the rescue operation. The navy said that it “remains committed to ensuring [the] safety of merchant shipping in the region along with international partners and friendly foreign countries."