In a massive development, an Israeli cargo ship was hit by a drone attack in the Indian Ocean on Saturday prompting geopolitical tensions. As per reports, the Israeli Merchant Vehicle MV Chem Pluto was hit by a drone attack and as a result, fire erupted on the ship. Although no casualties have been reported, India sent its Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Vikram for the rescue of the ship. Now, netizens are wondering who launched a drone attack on an Israeli ship, and that too in Indian territory.
Notably, the ship had many crew including 20 Indians. Now, an Indian Coast Guard vessel is moving towards the merchant vessel, MV Chem Pluto, which is 217 nautical miles off the Porbandar coast. The incident took place days after the Indian Navy helped in the evacuation of an injured sailor from a hijacked Malta-flagged cargo vessel on Monday. It had been reported that six 'pirates' had illegally boarded the ship, the MV Ruen, in the Arabian Sea.
Indian Defence Official statement reads, "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. 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."
It is pertinent to mention here that Ambrey, a maritime security firm was quoted saying that the "Liberia-flagged chemical/products tanker... was Israel-affiliated" and had been on its way from Saudi Arabia to India. Both agencies said the attack occurred 200 nautical miles southwest of Veraval, India.
(NOTE: IT IS A DEVELOPING STORY)