Indian Navy helped the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in sanitising a ship hijacked in the Gulf of Aden.

According to sources in the Indian Navy, INS Tarkash and INS Mumbai were part of the operation.

The Indian Navy provided communication and air support to the PLA's naval division which entered the ship to sanitise it.

A distress call was received from merchant vessel OS 35 (Bulk carrier), which was attacked and hijacked by pirates, on Saturday night. Indian Navy ships INS Tarkash and INS Mumbai, which were passing through Gulf of Aden, responded to the call and rapidly moved towards the merchant vessel.

Gulf of Aden is notoriously known for pirate attacks.

HOW THE OPERATION UNFOLDED

Besides Indian Navy's INS Tarkash and INS Mumbai, the PLA sent its ship Yulin, a multi-role frigate, to the Gulf of Aden.

Navy ship. Photo: @SpokespersonMoD Navy ship. Photo: @SpokespersonMoD

The Indian warships established contact with the Captain of the merchant vessel who along with the crew had locked themselves in a strong room on board, as per standard operating procedure.

Subsequently, the PLA ship reached the spot and some of its personnel went inside the merchant vessel as the Indian Navy helicopter provided air cover for the operation.

The ship was declared safe, said sources in Indian Navy.

INDIA, CHINA SHAKE HANDS

After the ship was successfully sanitised, both the Chinese and Indian navies thanked each other for excellent coordination.

The joint operation between the Indian and Chinese navies comes amid tensions escalating between the two countries over Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

INS Tarkash is the fifth Talwar-class frigate that was built in Russian, while INS Mumbai is a guided-missile destroyer that was built at the Mazagon Dock in Mumbai.

Both INS Tarkash and INS Mumbai were earlier part of the Operation Raahat which evacuated Indian citizens from Yemen in 2015 during military intervention.

(with inputs from Manjeet Singh Negi)

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