Indian Navy nabs 9 pirates off Seychelles coast

Soon after being deployed in Seychelles to carry out anti-piracy operations, Indian Naval Ship ‘Nirdeshak’ nabbed nine sea-pirates with the help of Spanish and French navies there.

“INS Nirdeshak — a survey ship of the Indian Navy, has caught nine sea-pirates 240 nautical miles off the coast of Seychelles with the help of French and Spanish navies there between the night of April 26-27 while they were trying to hijack Italian cruise liner MS Melody,” Navy officials said here.

“A Chetak helicopter was launched by Nirdeshak after coordinating with the French Navy, which had its Falcon reconnaissance aircraft in the area,” the officials added.

Pirates had attacked the cruise ship with 991 passengers and 536 crew on board on Saturday evening, using automatic rifles.

However, MS Melody, owned by Italy’s MSC Crociere SA, was able repulse the attack as it had security personnel on board. The SOS sent by the cruise liner alarmed vessels present in the area.