Indian Navy's warship INS Sumitra has successfully rescued 19 Pakistani sailors from a fishing vessel which was hijacked by Somali Pirates.

The Indian Navy's Spokesperson posted on X: "#INSSumitra Carries out 2nd Successful #AntiPiracy Ops – Rescuing 19 Crew members & Vessel from Somali Pirates."

"Having thwarted the Piracy attempt on FV Iman, the warship has carried out another successful anti-piracy ops off the East Coast of Somalia, rescuing Fishing Vessel Al Naeemi and her Crew (19 Pakistani Nationals) from 11 Somali Pirates," the post said.

"#INSSumitra, post rescuing MV Iman, was again pressed into action to locate & intercept another Iranian flagged FV which had been boarded by pirates and her Crew taken hostage," the post mentioned.

"This rescue of hijacked Vessels, through swift, persistent and relentless efforts by Mission Deployed #IndianNavy warship in the Southern Arabian Sea approx 850 nm West of Kochi, also prevents misuse of Fishing Vessels as Mother Ships for further acts of Piracy on Merchant Vessels," the Indian Navy spokesperson said.

INS  Sumitra earlier successfully rescued all 17 crew members of an Iranian-flagged Fishing Vessel (FV) Iman that was hijacked by pirates along the East Coast of Somalia and Gulf of Aden.

It may be mentioned that on January 27, fire fighting team from INS Visakhapatnam successfully brought under control the fire onboard MV Marlin Luanda after battling the inferno for six hours.