Pakistani sailors chant 'Long Live India' after rescue by neighbour's navy from pirates; WATCH

THE Indian Navy recently rescued 23 Pakistani nationals travelling on an Iranian-flagged shipping vessel from Somali pirates following a daring operation in the Arabian Sea and the sailors acknowledged the favour by raising 'India Zindabad' (Hail India) slogans.

A specialist team of the navy protected the Pakistanis from nine armed pirates and carried out sanitization and seaworthiness checks of the vessel, Al-Khambar.

On Thursday (28) evening, two ships of the Indian Navy, deployed in the Arabian Sea for maritime security operations, were diverted to intercept the hijacked fishing vessel after receiving inputs on a potential incident of piracy.

The ship was around 90 nautical miles south-west of Socotra archipelago and was reportedly boarded by the armed pirates. It was intercepted by the Indian Navy personnel on Friday (29).

Read: Indian Navy rescues hijacked Iranian shipping vessel

The Indian Navy has carried out a number of rescue operations in recent times at sea. Earlier this month, it intercepted a ship MV Ruen, which was sailing nearly 2,600 kilometres from the Indian coasts when attacked by pirates. Seven Bulgarian crew members were rescued in that operation following which the president of Bulgaria thanked the Indian leadership.

In another operation, the navy swung into action after getting a distress call from the Gulf of Aden where a Barbados-flagged Liberian-owned merchant vessel caught fire after being hit by a missile, reportedly fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels, and rescued 21 crew members, including an Indian.