The Indian Navy has freed the hijacked fishing vessel Azini off the coast of Somalia, rescuing all 20 crew members without casualties or injuries after an operation lasting over 48 hours.
The vessel was reported hijacked by an armed pirate group earlier last month off Somalia's north-eastern coast. The Navy said the danger was that it could be used as a "mother ship" to launch attacks on merchant shipping.
How the operation went
A mission-deployed warship, supported by a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, located the vessel after persistent surveillance, tracked it and used "calibrated non-kinetic measures" to contain it. Marine Commandos were reinforced by a precision airdrop from an Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft, then secured the vessel and overcame the pirate threat.
The Navy described the operation as showing seamless inter-service coordination and its role as a "First Responder" and "Preferred Security Partner" in the Indian Ocean Region. The release does not say how many pirates were involved or whether any were detained.
Photos
Source: official release by the Ministry of Defence, issued through the Press Information Bureau, Government of India (03 NOV 2026 8:45AM by PIB Delhi). Read the full official text: INDIAN NAVY SUCCESSFULLY RESCUES HIJACKED FISHING VESSEL ‘AZINI’ OFF THE COAST OF SOMALIA.
How we verified this
VerifiedEvery fact, figure and quotation is taken from the official PIB release (Release ID 2331872) issued by the Ministry of Defence on 03 NOV 2026 8:45AM by PIB Delhi; checked against the source on publication. Story written by BDT from that release; no outside facts added.
Sources
- 1.INDIAN NAVY SUCCESSFULLY RESCUES HIJACKED FISHING VESSEL ‘AZINI’ OFF THE COAST OF SOMALIA — Press Information Bureau, Government of India
