The Indian Navy’s explosive ordnance disposal team on December 25 carried out an elaborate inspection of merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto on its arrival at Mumbai harbour, two days after the ship was hit by a drone off Bharat’s west coast in the Arabian Sea as it was on its way to New Mangalore port.
Keeping in mind the attacks on commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea, the Navy had decided to deploy P-8I long-range patrol aircraft for surveillance and warships INS Mormugao, INS Kochi and INS Kolkata in the region to maintain “deterrent presence”, officials said.
Drone attack on Liberian-flagged MV Chem Pluto came on December 23 amid growing concerns over various commercial vessels being targeted reportedly by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Liberian-flagged vessel with 21 Bharatiya and one Vietnamese crew, anchored at outer anchorage off Mumbai at 3:30 pm.
“Upon her arrival, the Indian Navy explosive ordnance disposal team laid out an investigation of the vessel to ensure a preliminary assessment to determine the type and nature of attack. The area of attack and debris reveals that the ship suffered a drone attack,” a Navy spokesperson said.
“However, additional forensic and technical analysis is required to establish the vector of attack including type and amount of explosive used,” he said.
A Pentagon spokesperson said on December 24 that MV Chem Pluto was hit by “a one-way attack drone fired from Iran”.
The Indian Navy spokesperson, in a joint investigation of various agencies commenced with following completion of the analysis of the vessel by the explosive ordnance team.
“MV Chem Pluto has received clearance for extended operation by her company-in-charge at Mumbai. The ship is to undergo mandatory checks by the various inspecting authorities before undertaking ship to ship transfer of cargo,” he said. “This is likely to be followed by docking and repairs of the damaged portion of MV Chem Pluto,” he added.
The official shared information regarding the three guided missile destroyers that have been deployed in the Arabian Sea in view of spate of attacks on commercial vessels in the region.
MV Chem Pluto, carrying crude oil to New Mangalore port from Al Jubail port in Saudi Arabia, was struck about 217 nautical miles from Porbandar on December 23. No one was injured in the incident.
A Gabon-flagged commercial crude oil tanker carrying 25 Indian crew members were also under a drone attack in the Southern Red Sea on December 24. Luckily, no one was injured, as per the reports by the Indian officials and the US military.
