The Indian Navy rescued 23 people, including 13 Indians, onboard a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden after it came under a drone strike.
In a statement, the Navy said a Liberian-flagged commercial ship MSCSkyII was reported on fire due to a drone attack on March 4.
“INS Kolkata, mission deployed in the region for maritime security operations, promptly responded and arrived at the scene of the incident by 10.30 pm,” the Navy statement read.
“A specialised firefighting team of 12 personnel from INS Kolkata embarked the vessel early morning hours of March 5 to assist in the firefighting efforts. Specialist EOD Team also embarked the vessel and provided assistance in residual risk assessment,” it added.
The vessel was operating with a crew of 23 personnel, which included 13 Indians. All of them were escorted to safe waters, the Navy said.
The fresh incident on Monday came amid increasing global concerns over attacks on various commercial vessels in the Red Sea by Houthi militants.