India deeply concerned over recent attacks on commercial vessels in Red Sea: MEA
| 2024-01-18
Ministry of External Affairs Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal at the weekly media briefing in New Delhi on January 18, 2024
Indian Navy is trying to secure the sea lanes so that India’s economic interests are not impacted, MEA says
India is deeply concerned over the recent attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday (January 18, 2024).
Responding to questions at the weekly media briefing, MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the crisis will not only impact India but the entire world since it's an "important" shipping lane.
The MEA Official Spokesperson said the issue of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and the violence there was discussed when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Iran earlier this week.
"On the question of the Red Sea and discussion in Iran when the external affairs minister had visited. You would have seen he made a detailed joint press statement while he was there. This issue of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the violence there and the destabilized nature of things there were discussed,” he said in response to a question on EAM Jaishankar’s visit to Tehran.
“We are deeply concerned about the whole situation. It does impact not just us, but it's an important shipping lane for not just India, but for the world. So, we have our own interests there which are being impacted. But at the same time, we have the Indian Navy, which is patrolling the area. They're trying to secure the sea lanes and do their best so that our economic interests are not impacted,” Jaiswal explained.
At the same time, the Indian Navy was providing protection to ships of other countries as well, he added.
The MEA Spokesperson’s remarks came hours after the Indian Navy said it responded swiftly to a distress call and INS Visakhapatnam provided timely assistance to the Marshall Island-flagged merchant vessel MV Genco Picardy, which came under a drone attack in the Gulf of Aden on the night of January 17, 2024. This was the latest in a series of attacks on shipping lines in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea regions amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The US-owned MV Genco Picardy was struck by a drone believed to be from Yemen-based Houthis, resulting in a fire on board. The ship, with a 22-member crew including nine Indian nationals, was around 70 miles southeast of Aden at the time. INS Visakhapatnam, stationed in the region for anti-piracy operations, promptly heeded the distress call.
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