On Monday, the Indian Navy announced that its offshore patrol vessel, INS Sumitra, promptly answered a distress call from an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel that had been hijacked off the coast of Somalia. The rapid response from INS Sumitra compelled the pirates to release both the boat and the crew that were being held hostage.

The warship is presently deployed for anti-piracy operations along the eastern coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.

On Tuesday, Indian Defense officials reported a significant mission accomplishment, stating that the Indian Navy warship INS Sumitra successfully rescued the hijacked fishing vessel Al Naemi from Somali pirates approximately 800 miles off the Kochi coast. The Al Naemi, which had been sailing off the East Coast of Somalia, saw the successful rescue of 19 Pakistani nationals on Monday.

The navy statement lacked details on the methods used to compel the suspected Somali pirates to abandon their hijacking attempt. The rescues conducted by the INS Sumitra warship occurred within a span of 36 hours of each other.

Following the release of the 17 crew members in the initial rescue, the ship underwent sanitization before continuing its journey. The statement, however, did not provide information about the pirates' status.

Two days later, on Tuesday, the navy announced the reactivation of INS Sumitra to locate and intercept another Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, Al Naeemi. Navy personnel boarded the vessel to conduct sanitization and assess the well-being of the 19 Pakistani sailors comprising the crew. Notably, there was no mention of the pirates' status in the statement. Nonetheless, a photo posted on X depicted armed navy personnel guarding individuals with their hands tied behind their backs.

Concerns have been raised regarding a potential resurgence of opportunistic pirate raids in the Indian Ocean, compounding the heightened threat posed by a separate wave of attacks initiated by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels following the hijackings off the coast of Somalia.