The 8900-tonne vessel, Alondra Rainbow, was carrying a cargo of 7000 tonnes of aluminium ingots from Kuala Tanjung in Indonesia to Milke in Japan when she lost radio contact on October 22 after being hijacked by a 10-member gang of Indonesian pirates and diverted into the Arabian Sea.

On Saturday evening, the Coast Guard received a message from the merchant vessel the MV Al Shuadda through the piracy reporting centre, Kuala Lampur. The Alondra Rainbow had been sighted 60 miles south-west of Kanyakumari, moving in a north-western direction. A Coast Guard Dornier patrol aircraft swung in and asked the hijacked ship to stop. The 107-meter-long ship, maintained radio silence and disregarded warnings to stop, crossing the Lakshadweep islands at a speed of eight knots.

ACoast Guard inshore patrol craft, the CGS Tarabai, sailed out of Mangalore and intercepted the merchant vessel. The Dornier and the patrol craft fired at the vessel but failed to stop it. The firing continued for two days before the pirates put the pedal to metal, propelling the merchant ship to a speed of 14.5 knots which proved too much for the slower Coast Guard craft to keep up.

This was when the Indian Navy was called in. The naval warship nearest to the merchant vessel, the missile corvette INS Prahaar on a routine exercise in the Arabian Sea, was alerted on Monday morning. The 1241 RE Tarantul class Prahaar, the navy's newest missile boat capable of a top speed of 40 knots dashed to the area and began trailing the Alondra Rainbow, warning it to stop.

However, the merchant vessel continued to disregard warnings and shots fired across its bows, after which the Prahaar opened fire, first with its AK-630 cannons and later with its heavier 76.2 mm main gun.

``We did not want to damage the ship sowe used graduated and graded action against it,'' said Commodore Mahendra P Taneja, Chief Staff Officer (Operations) of the Western Naval Command, briefing the media in the city.The Prahaar raked the aft portion of the merchant ship with shell fire, forcing it to stop. ``There was far too much firepower and the Alondra Rainbow readily capitulated, offering no resistance to a boarding party of the Coast Guard.

Ten pirates, including their leader Christinans, were apprehended even as smoke billowed out from the aft portion of the vessel after the hijackers set it ablaze to destroy evidence.

Two medium fires broke out on board the ship and it began to sink into the water after three-fourths of the engine room was flooded. ``If the pirates had their way, they would have scuttled the ship to destroy evidence,'' said Commodore Taneja.

``It was a well-coordinated operation between the navy and Coast Guard. It started as a Coast Guard operation, but since their own assets were not in a position to handle it,the navy stepped in and later handed it back to them,'' said Rear Admiral J S Bedi, Chief Staff Officer, WNC.

Besides the Prahaar, the hijacked merchant ship was surrounded by the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) CGS Veera, and IPVs Tarabai and Annie Beasant. An additional naval group headed by the commander of the Western Fleet comprising the missile destroyer INS Delhi and frigate INS Ganga had also reached the scene.

Reminiscent of Operation Cactus in 1988 where an Indian frigate gave chase to and intercepted a merchant vessel carrying mercenaries fleeing after an aborted coup bid in Maldives, this joint mission was dubbed Operation Rainbow.

The ship was intercepted under Article 105 of the United Nations Convention on Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) which empowers any state to seize a pirate ship or aircraft or ships and aircraft seized by pirates. Had the Alondra Rainbow not been intercepted, both the ship and the consignment would have been sold off somewhere in the Arabia Sea.

The pirates were brought toMumbai onboard the Coast Guard OPV where they were being interrogated. Operations to douse the blaze were underway before the ship could be towed to Mumbai harbour. Some Coast Guard divers boarded the ship to plug the leaks and other damages caused by the hijackers, said the Coast Guard's Deputy Inspector General Arun Mahajan.

The hijacked vessel was renamed M V Mega Rama and reflagged under Belize registration when it was impounded. However, investigations have revealed that the old name M V Alondra Rainbow was visible at the bow and bridge of According to the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) the crew members told Thailand Marine Police that their ship was hijacked by ten men armed with pistol and swords shortly after she left the port of Kaula Tanjung in north Sumatra.

The ship's original crew who had been offloaded by the pirates in Thailand, comprised of two Japanese nationals and 15 Filipino seamen.