Indian Navy warships moving towards Israel-affiliated vessel hit by drone in Arabian Sea, 'crew safe'

livemint.com:

AFP quoted two maritime agencies. One of the vessels is an Israel-affiliated merchant ship, which was struck by the unmanned drone, causing a fire, within the vessel in the Arabian Sea off India's west coast. Indian Defense officials said that Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Vikram is moving towards a merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea, 217 nautical miles off Porbandar coast, after it reported a fire incident suspected to be caused by a drone attack.

The defense officials also said that the vessel has crude oil and was going towards Mangalore from a port in Saudi Arabia. Indian Navy officials informed that Indian Navy warships in the vicinity of MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea are also moving towards the merchant ship in the outside Indian EEZ. “Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Vikram is moving towards a merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea 217 nautical miles off Porbandar cost after it reported a fire incident suspected to be caused by a drone attack.

The vessel has crude oil and was going towards Mangalore from a port in Saudi Arabia", Indian Navy officials informed. "As per inputs received, the fire has been extinguished but it has affected its functioning. The ICGS Vikram was deployed on the patrol of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone when it was directed towards the merchant ship in distress.

All crew are safe which includes around 20 Indians. The ICGS Vikram has alerted all ships in the area to provide assistance to it, " the Defence officials added. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the strike which came amid a flurry of drone and missile attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea.