Officials said that Indian warships are already present in the area and are conducting searches on nearby vessels, while the stricken MV Chem Pluto is being escorted to Mumbai by a coast guard vessel. Indian naval surveillance aircraft have also been deployed to keep a lookout for suspicious vessels in the area.
On Sunday, the Pentagon said in a statement that the Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned and Netherlands-operated tanker was struck about 200 nautical miles from the coast of India “by a one-way attack drone fired from Iran”.
The spot where MV Chem Pluto reported the attack is approximately 850 km from the nearest point on the Iranian Coast. Iran is known to have demonstrated an ability to carry out drone strikes at over 2,000 km. Sources said the drone most likely used the automatic identification system (AIS) data being transmitted by the ship to strike it.
Immediately after the attack, the ship switched off its AIS to avert another strike. Similar tactics may be followed by other ships to avoid attacks in danger zones. The first such strike near the Indian coastline has raised fears that shipping insurance costs may go up, resulting in higher cargo tariffs.
The Indian Navy has already launched an investigation into the attack and is stepping up presence to ensure the safety of other vessels. A stealth destroyer has already reached the spot and Indian Coast Guard Ship Vikram is escorting MV Chem Pluto.”The vessel has started making its way towards Mumbai after undertaking damage assessment and repairs on its power generation systems. The vessel is likely to enter Mumbai and seek escort assistance due to steering issues. Indian Coast Guard Ship Vikram will be escorting the ship during its passage,” Coast Guard officials said.The vessel was on its way to Mangalore from Jubail in Saudi Arabia when the incident took place. The ship had a crew that included 20 Indian nationals, but no injuries were reported and the fire was brought under control by its crew.
