Warship returns from Somalia to Chennai port after anti-piracy operations

CHENNAI : The warship INS Chennai, which was involved in a recent rescue operation of 15 Indians on board a ship that was hijacked off Somalia cost, arrived at the Chennai Port on Friday.

The crew is set to head to Visakhapatnam for MILAN 2024, India’s flagship multinational naval conference from Feb 19 to 27. More than 50 countries will be participating in the conference this year.

Two ships, along with INS Chennai, will represent the state and Puducherry at the conference. MILAN is a biennial multinational naval exercise which started in 1995 with the participation of four countries Indonesia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

INS Chennai Captain Raghu Nair said this will be an opportunity to promote synergy and understand how they can improve operations among participating countries. “This is crucial as we want to reaffirm our position as the preferred security partner. We will also forge partnerships to study and tackle threats together,” he said.

This will also help us address global maritime security challenges, including the recent escalating attacks by Houthi rebels and Somali pirates in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea, he said.