Indian Navy rescues Iranian fishing vessel hijacked off Somalia, 20 crew members saved

New Delhi, November 3 (Xinhua) -- India's Ministry of Defence said in a statement the same day that Indian Navy forces have rescued an Iranian fishing vessel hijacked by armed pirates in waters near Somalia, with all 20 crew members on board saved.

According to the Indian Ministry of Defence, the operation to rescue the "Azini" lasted more than 48 hours and ended with no casualties. The Indian Ocean branch of the EU Maritime Security Centre separately confirmed that the vessel had been rescued by counter-piracy military forces, stating in an updated alert that "this incident is now considered closed."

India's Ministry of Defence said India deployed a warship and dispatched maritime patrol aircraft to locate and track the target vessel; before naval forces took control of the fishing vessel, several marines were also delivered to the relevant waters by precision airdrop from an Indian Air Force C-17 transport aircraft.

According to the EU Maritime Security Centre, the "Azini" was hijacked on October 29 off the eastern coast of Somalia. An earlier alert issued by the centre had warned that the vessel was approaching a shipping lane and could be used as a base for further pirate attacks; the alert did not confirm that such attacks had occurred.

Figures on the number of people on board differ among parties. An earlier Associated Press report, citing an officer of the Puntland maritime police, said there were 23 people on board, including 21 Iranian crew members and 2 Somali security personnel; the figure given by India in its rescue announcement was 20 crew members, with no explanation for the discrepancy.

Separately, according to the General Administration of Customs import and export statistics for August 2026, India's imports of warm-water shrimp (penaeid shrimp, under the customs commodity classification HS 0306.17) that month totaled 11,358.594 tonnes, with an import value of USD 58,733,060.0 and an average import price of USD 5,170.8 per tonne; for the same period and under the same classification, another record shows an import value of USD 54,839,413.0 and an average import price of USD 5,141.51 per tonne.