Vessels of the Indian and Pakistan Navies were involved in a recent collision in international waters of the North Arabian Sea, The Indian Express has reported.
Indian officials said the incident occurred off the coast of Oman on the evening (local time) of Tuesday, September 15.
The identity of the Indian Navy ship was not disclosed while the Pakistan Navy ship has been confirmed by official Indian sources to be the Yarmook-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) PNS Hunain.
The same sources said the Indian vessel suffered no damage and continued on its surveillance mission while Hunain returned to her homeport following the incident.
Sources said the OPV had executed manoeuvres, "in an unprofessional and unsafe manner," including conducting a high-speed approach that resulted in the collision.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has since issued a statement saying that Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires in New Delhi has been summoned over the incident and that, "a strong protest was lodged with him over the unacceptable and unprofessional conduct of Pakistani naval units at sea that led to a collision with a unit of the Indian Navy."
The MEA added that while the incident did not result in any major damage to the Indian vessel, the Pakistani ship's actions were, "in direct contravention of Article 10 of the Agreement between India and Pakistan on Advance Notice on Military Exercises, Manoeuvres and Troops Movements of April 1991."
Under Article 10 of the agreement, Indian and Pakistani naval ships and submarines are not to close less than three nautical miles from each other so as to avoid any accident while operating in international waters.