New Delhi: An Indian Navy ship has thwarted a pirate attack on a merchant vessel with 10 Indian crew in the Gulf of Aden in which two of the eight Somali sea brigands are feared killed and the rest arrested, Navy sources said on Friday.
The attack on the Norwegian-owned merchant vessel -- M V Maud, flying the Liberian flag -- took place about 225 nautical miles east of Aden around 1300 hours on Thursday, the sources said.
INS Talwar, a guided missile frigate, was escorting a three-vessel group in the international recommended transit corridor in the Gulf of Aden when Maud crew noticed an eight-member pirate gang in a skiff approaching towards it.
The vessel's captain sent a distress signal to Talwar, which rushed a helicopter to ward off the piracy attack.
"There was just about two-mile visibility at that hour due to haze. And that short distance and high speed of the skiff left Talwar with little time to respond," the sources said.
As the helicopter approached the merchant vessel, Navy personnel noticed two of the pirates trying to board the ship after locking a ladder on it. The Navy fired at the two men, who fell into the sea. The duo is feared dead as the Navy personnel did not see them resurfacing.
"We shot at the two pirates boarding the ship and they fell into the sea. We did not notice them resurfacing. We are not sure about their fate," sources said.