Navy scrambles jets after suspected drone hit on merchant ship

A merchant vessel bound for Mangalore was struck by a drone off India’s west coast, officials and maritime security agencies said on Saturday, an attack that comes at a time of heightened fears of maritime trade being targeted further west in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

- Rahul Singh and Maulik Pathak

The Indian navy and the coast guard deployed assets to aid the merchant ship MV Chem Pluto. The vessel was carrying chemicals from Saudi Arabia’s Jubail port to Mangalore, officials said. It was struck 217 nautical miles from Porbandar around 11.30am, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

The UKMTO cited the crew of 21 as having reported that all on board were safe and the attack to have come from an uncrewed aerial system (UAS), which led to an explosion and a fire that disabled its power supply.

By 8pm, the crew regained some control and reported heading towards Mumbai, with a Coast Guard ship on course to intercept later at night, the Coast Guard said in a statement. “The Indian Coast Guard Maritime Coordination Centre (MRCC) established real time communication with the vessel’s agent and ascertained nil loss of life and assured all assistance. It was also learnt that the vessel fire has been doused by the crew,” said the statement, which added that a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft “has sanitised the area and established communication with Chem Pluto”.

The vessel has started making way towards Mumbai after undertaking damage assessment and repairs on its power generation systems. It has sought escort assistance due to steering issues and Coast Guard vessel Vikram will be escorting it, the agency added.

It was not immediately known who was behind the incident but an official aware of the matter said the Chem Pluto sails under the Liberian flag and is managed by a Japanese company.