Indian Navy arrests 61 pirates

Sixty-one heavily armed pirates were arrested and 13 sailors rescued by Indian Navy from a pirate mother vessel in the Arabian Sea, about 600 nautical miles west of India.

Navy sources on Monday said that the operation was carried out by the force on Saturday night following warning signals received a day earlier.

The pirates and sailors were being brought to Mumbai and Kochi where their nationality will be verified.

The pirate mother vessel Vega 5 was intercepted by the Nay?s INS Kalpeni in the sea at 9 pm on Saturday.

Warships Khukri, a missile corvette, and Kalpeni, a water jet fast attack craft, were put on the trail of Vega 5 after naval surveillance aircraft Dornier picked a call from MV Vancouver Bridge that it was under pirate attack on Friday.

Kalpeni closed in on Vega 5 on Saturday night and a gun-battle ensued, during which the pirate mother vessel caught fire.

The navy recovered 74 personnel ? 61 pirates and 13 members of the original crew.

The Mozambique-flagged ship was a fishing vessel that was hijacked on Dec 28.