Indian Ocean Drone Attack: A drone attack hit a ship in the Indian Ocean, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an alert on Saturday

Indian Ocean Drone Attack: A drone attack hit a ship in the Indian Ocean, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an alert on Saturday. The attack caused an explosion and a fire, the body said. "UKMTO have received a report of an attack by Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) on a vessel causing an explosion and fire," UKMTO posted on X (formerly Twitter).

According to UKMTO, the fire was extinguished and no casualties or injuries were reported. The incident took place 200 kms South-West of the coastal city of Veraval in Gujarat, the body informed. However, divergent to UKMTO's alert, defence officials said that the incident took place in the Arabian Sea.


The Indian Coast Guard's (ICG's) offshore patrol vessel Vikram has been deployed to assist the commercial ship, which has been identified as MV Chem Pluto, defence officials cited by news agency ANI said. The targeted ship was carrying crude oil and was bound for Mangaluru and had originated from a port in Saudi Arabia, they informed.

"Indian Coast Guard ship ICGS Vikram is moving towards a merchant vessel MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea 217 nautical miles off Porbandar cost after it reported a fire incident suspected to be caused by a drone attack. The vessel has crude oil and was going towards Mangalore from a port in Saudi Arabia. As per inputs received, the fire has been extinguished but it has affected its functioning. The ICGS Vikram was deployed on the patrol of the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone when it was directed towards the merchant ship in distress. All crew are safe which includes around 20 Indians. The ICGS Vikram has alerted all ships in the area to provide assistance to it," defence officials stated.

Meanwhile, Indian Navy warships in the region also changed their course to assist the distressed Liberian-flagged ship, Navy officials said. "Indian Navy warships in the vicinity are also moving towards the merchant ship MV Chem Pluto in the Arabian Sea outside Indian EEZ," the officials stated.

The purported attack in the Indian Ocean comes amidst a spate of maritime attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis. Several liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels have changed their courses in recent days to avoid the Red Sea region to avoid attacks by the militia outfit on the world's main East-West trade route.

The Houthis say the attacks are a response to Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip. The Red Sea is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal, creating the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, and is connected to the Gulf of Aden by the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Yemen and Djibouti. About 12% of world shipping traffic transits the canal.

But attacks in recent days on ships along the route have led companies such as oil major BP, French shipping group CMA CGM and Norwegian oil and gas firm Equinor to re-route vessels or pause transits through the Red Sea.