Topaz and rescued Sri Lankan fishing trawler arriving in port today |31 January 2024

The Seychelles Coast Guard vessel ‘Topaz’ and the rescued Sri Lankan fishing trawler will be arriving in port this morning, following an operation to intercept the latter after it had been hijacked by armed Somali pirates.

The rescue operation was confirmed on Monday by President Wavel Ramkalawan, in a message to the Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF).

Seychelles NATION was not able to obtain any further information from the SDF, but according to international news media, spokesperson of the Sri Lankan navy, Captain Gayan Wickramasuriya confirmed that the fishing trawler was hijacked 840 nautical miles (1,555km) east of Somalia, 1,100 nautical miles (2,040km) from Sri Lanka and north of Seychelles.

Associated Press reports that the operation and rescue took place on Saturday, although this is yet to be confirmed by the local military.

Further information from an official in Sri Lanka’s fisheries department suggests that two or three armed men aboard a 23-metre (75-foot) boat managed to board the fishing boat, and fired shots to scare away other nearby fishing boats, before taking off with the fishermen.

The incident comes merely two weeks after Sri Lanka announced that it would be joining the US-led maritime coalition to protect shipping vessels in the Red Sea against attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Meanwhile, India’s naval forces have rescued two Iranian-flagged fishing vessels at the hands of Somali pirates. The first fishing vessel – ‘Iman’ – had 17 crew members.

In the latest operation, they freed 19 Pakistani crew members and the vessel which had been taken captive by 11 Somali pirates. The operation was confirmed in statement by the Indian navy on Monday.

Laura Pillay