Indian warship provided help after missile attack on ship in Gulf of Aden

Attacks on cargo ships at sea are not stopping. Despite much persuasion, the Houthi rebels are not resisting from their actions. The missile attack on a ship in the Gulf of Aden was also reportedly carried out by Iran-backed Houthi militants.

The Indian Navy brought under control the fire on a cargo oil tanker ship in the Gulf of Aden. The Navy took this action on the help sought by the ship. The ship had 22 Indians in its crew and it caught fire after being hit by a missile. Following a call for assistance from Marshall Islands-flagged ship MV Marlin Luanda on Friday night, the Indian Navy deployed its warship INS Visakhapatnam to assist the ship.

Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said that the Indian Navy's fire brigade along with the crew of MV Marlin Luanda brought the fire under control after six hours of effort. The missile attack on the ship was allegedly carried out by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists. The attack came amid growing global concerns over the security situation in the Red Sea as well as the Gulf of Aden. This ship was being operated by the British company Oceanics Services.

The Navy also shared a video of the captain of the merchant ship, in which he is thanking the warship's personnel for responding to the SOS call. Captain of the ship Abhilash Rawat said, "I thank the Indian Navy warship INS Visakhapatnam. We had lost all hope of fighting this fire. Salute to the Indian Navy, whose experts came on board to fight the fire. Indian The Navy came forward to help us."

Houthi rebels have been targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea and surrounding areas since November last year. They are apparently targeting the ships in response to Israel's military offensive in Gaza.

"INS Visakhapatnam proceeded to provide assistance in response to the distress call made by MV Marlin Luanda. An American and French warship also responded to the distress call," Madhwal said.

The Navy had said in a statement earlier in the day that on the request of MV Marlin Luanda, INS Visakhapatnam had responded to the assistance sought by the distressed ship, which had a crew of 22 Indians including one Bangladeshi man. Naval NBCD team with fire fighting equipment was deployed to assist in fire fighting efforts of the crew members of the distressed ship.