Will find attackers from depths of seas: Rajnath

Defence minister vows stringent action against perpetrators of recent sea attacks on merchant ships

Indian government has taken serious cognisance of the recent attacks on merchant navy ships MV Chem Pluto and MV Sai Baba, and it will take strict action against those behind the attacks by finding them even from the “depths of seas”, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday. Speaking after the commissioning of stealth guided missile destroyer INS Imphal, Singh said India has intensified patrolling of the seas after the recent attacks on merchant navy ships.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

“The Indian government has taken the drone attack on MV Chem Pluto and attack on MV Saibaba in the Red Sea seriously. We will find those who executed the recent attacks on merchant navy ships even from the depths of the seas and take strict action against them,” Singh said. MV Chem Pluto with 21 Indian crew members, was struck by a drone about 217 nautical miles from Porbandar on Saturday following which both the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard deployed a number of assets to provide assistance to the ship. A Gabon-flagged commercial crude oil tanker with 25 Indian crew members reportedly came under a drone attack in the Southern Red Sea.

Imphal guided missile destroyer joins Navy

Stealth guided missile destroyer Imphal, which has an ability to fire extended range supersonic BrahMos missile, was commissioned into the Indian Navy in Mumbai on Tuesday. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar were present at the event that marked the formal induction into the Navy of the third of four ‘Visakhapatnam’ class destroyers, indigenously designed by the navy’s in-house organisation, Warship Design Bureau and constructed by defence PSU Mazagon Dock Limited, Mumbai.

INS Imphal is the first warship to have been named after a city from the northeast, said Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command. INS Imphal was delivered to the Indian Navy on October 20 after completing a rigorous and comprehensive trial programme both in harbour and at sea.

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