NEW DELHI, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Indian Navy on Friday announced that it had successfully rescued all the 21 crew members, including 15 Indians, onboard the distressed cargo vessel off the Somalia coast.

The Liberian-flagged ship MV Lila Norfolk was sailing from Port Du Aco in Brazil and was bound for Khalifa Bin Salman in Bahrain. The merchant vessel sent a message on the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) portal saying five to six unknown armed personnel boarded on Thursday evening.

The Indian Navy had rushed its warship INS Chennai and deployed maritime operations after the cargo ship issued a hijacking distress call.

"INS Chennai is in the vicinity of MV and rendering support to restore the power generation and propulsion, and commence her voyage to next port of call," posted the Indian Navy on X, formerly Twitter.

The Indian Navy's elite Marine Commandos, or Marcos, conducted sanitization operations on the vessel and confirmed the absence of hijackers. Enditem

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