Official: Indian Navy Sunk Thai Trawler

International Maritime Agency Says "Pirate Mother Ship" Was Commandeered Fishing Vessel

(AP)  The pirate "mother ship" sunk last week by the Indian navy was actually a Thai fishing trawler that had been commandeered hours earlier by pirates, an international maritime agency official said Wednesday.

But the Indian navy defended its actions, saying it had fired in self-defense.

Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, said one Thai crew member died when the Indian frigate INS Tabar fired on the boat in the Gulf of Aden on Nov. 18.

Fourteen others are missing and a Cambodian sailor was rescued four days later by passing fishermen, he said. The IMB received a report on the apparent mistake late Tuesday from Bangkok-based Sirichai Fisheries, which owned the Ekawat Nava5 vessel, he said.

"The Indian navy assumed it was a pirate vessel because they may have seen armed pirates on board the boat which has been hijacked earlier," Choong said.

India's navy last week said the INS Tabar, which began patrolling the gulf on Nov. 2, battled a pirate "mother vessel" on Nov. 18, setting the ship ablaze.

In New Delhi, Indian navy spokesman Commander Nirad Sinha admitted Wednesday it was possible the ship was hijacked but defended the INS Tabar's action, saying it was responding to pirates' threat to attack it.

"In so far as we are concerned, both its description and its intent were that of a pirate ship," he said. "Only after we were fired upon did we fire. We fired in self defense. There were gun-toting guys with RPGs on it."

Sirichai Fisheries found out about the mishap after speaking to the Cambodian sailor, who is now recuperating in a hospital in Yemen, said Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, the company's managing director. The trawler was headed from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when it was hijacked.

"Pirates take over ships," Sinha said. "They've been doing that since the days of Long John Silver."

Choong said the trawler was headed from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when it was hijacked, he said.

"We are saddened with what has happened. It's an unfortunate tragedy. We hope that this incident won't affect the anti-piracy operation by the multi-coalition navies there," Choong said.

Sirichaiekawat said his company had contacted the International Maritime Bureau after getting messages from other boats in the region that the Ekawat Nava5 had come under pirate attack. The boat was outfitted with a transmitter sending out its location, which indicated the boat was headed toward the coast of Somalia, he said.

Sirichai Fisheries asked if any naval ships were in the area to help their stricken boat. The British navy responded, asking for information, but later told the company that pirates had already boarded the ship and any sort of attack on them could cause the crew to be harmed.

"The British navy instructed us to wait until the pirates contacted us," he said.

Meanwhile, the International Maritime Bureau alerted the multi-coalition forces patrolling the region and other military agencies in the area, sending them photos of the vessel, Choong said.

However, it was unclear if the Indian navy had received the information because it has no direct communication links to the maritime bureau, he said.

"We hope that individual navy warships that are patrolling the gulf would coordinate with the coalition forces or request information from us" to avoid such incidents, Choong added.

It's unclear whether darkness played a role in what happened. The Indian navy said earlier that the final showdown with what they called the "mother ship" happened after nightfall but also said the entire incident had taken a few hours and that it had begun in the evening.

Somalia, an impoverished nation caught up in an Islamic insurgency, has not had a functioning government since 1991. Somali pirates have become increasingly brazen recently, seizing eight vessels in the past two weeks, including a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.

There have been 96 pirate attacks so far this year in Somali waters, with 39 ships hijacked. Fifteen ships with nearly 300 crew are still in the hands of pirates, which have demanded multimillion dollar ransom.

At present, warships from Denmark, India, Malaysia, Russia, the U.S. and NATO patrol a vast international maritime corridor, escorting some merchant ships and responding to distress calls in the area.

Shippers worldwide have called for a military blockade of the waters off Somalia's coast to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea, but NATO officials said there were no such plans. France has also rejected such a call, saying it was not feasible.

[wcreader]

-- The pirate "mother ship" sunk last week by the Indian navy was actually a Thai fishing trawler an international maritime agency official said Wednesday. But the Indian navy defended its actions, saying it had fired in self-defense.
It seems that the India Navy was very careless in action and act irresponsibly to cause inocent Thai sailors to die. What a sad story. Hope India Navy will say sorry and cover the lose to the victim family.

"No amount of planning will replace dumb luck."

[impeach___w]

Where are all the idiot posters that were previously applauding this error???

[gangesdak]

These governments need to find out who the families are of these so called pirats and take thier families away and make them ride as passengers on the frieghters. this was done by spain in the 1600s and proved to be quite effective deterent.In some cases the families were just simply killed and empaled out side of the town on the ports edge of the decks.
Posted by tootall1014 at 10:21 AM : Nov 26, 2008

Spaniards used to be barbarians of all barbarians in those days (only in the last 100 years they have been subdued- only because others became more powerful). are you sure we have to learn from those techniques. It is like learning from the Nazis.

[jowand]

The Indian Navy was looking for an opportunity to flex its muscles and project itself. They seem to have acted irresponsibly and some 14 sailors are dead. The Indian Navy should stick to patroling its own waters or they risk making a nuissance of themselves like the Americans and the English.

Posted by summarex at 06:06 AM : Nov 26, 2008


Sailors are dead because pirates took over the ship and fired on the India ship first, piracy is still an act of war. Only Progressives make excuses for people like the pirates.

[libsh8theusa]

in my best Indian voice

"This is technical support how may I assist you?"

"My trawler has sprung a leak"

" May I have your first name and may I call you by that name?"

"If you don''t help me soon my trawler will sink"

"May I have your name please?"

"Nirad"

"Nirad can you verify your account by giving me the billing address and your mothers maiden name"

"We are sinking here.. we need some f-in help, NOW!!!!!"

"Nirad can you verify your account by giving me the billing address and your mothers maiden name"





Don''t you just love Idian tech support..

[gangesdak]

Posted by gangesdak at 08:10 AM : Nov 26, 2008

sad that your life is so consumed with george bush that you even bring him up in this story....get a life
Posted by jamesm12341 at 08:52 AM : Nov 26, 2008

Guy, that was supposed to be funny, Jay Leno material. I suppose you ought to be there.

[mrindia1]

See the pictures of the event and the following link http://broadband.indiatimes.com/toishowvideo/3758271.cms

The images clearly indicate the explosions to be due to secondary blasts on the "mother ship". Anybody who has any knowledge of the damage capacity of shells, be it field guns or naval guns, would tell you, that such "explosions" cannot be caused by a normal shell. The video shows multi-centric secondary blasts which cannot be explained by the combustion of expected contents of any fishing trawler.

Somebody should investigate exactly what kind of "fishing supplies" was the ship caryring from "Omen" to "Yemen".

[pdchapin]

While the loss of the Thai crew is regrettable, a coordinate policy of quick and severe military response to piracy would soon end the problem and result is fewer loses in the long run. Every time you give in to hostage takers, you put everybody else at risk. It''s the same argument as we use for not negotiating with terrorists.

Unfortunately this doesn''t appear to be part of such a policy, just a confused shoot-out in the dark.

[bigruu1-2009]

No comment.

[incog-nito]

Statement from Indian officials: "Let this serve a warning to all pirates: If you commandeer a vessel and fire a few rounds at us, we will sink the vessel and its occupants, forcing you to escape via speedboats."

Yeah, that''ll deter them!

[impeach___w]

Where are all the idiot posters that were previously applauding this error???

[gangesdak]

Oops. But no harm done. Let the Indians borrow from Bush''s WMD theory, produce some phony pictures, and claim that the action taken was correct though the facts could be otherwise. Go India go. Say thanks to brother Bush (may be he can pardon you before leaving office).

[piercetheval]

OM KALI OM....AARRRrrrr!!!

[summarex]

The Indian Navy was looking for an opportunity to flex its muscles and project itself. They seem to have acted irresponsibly and some 14 sailors are dead. The Indian Navy should stick to patroling its own waters or they risk making a nuissance of themselves like the Americans and the English.

[babooph]

Iranian gunboats were blasted from the sea miles before nearing US warships-this is an understandable action as was the Iranian one.

[babooph]

India has no apology to make-The Thais were no longer in control.

[dsr57]

ha ha ha ha ha WOW

[missingamerica]

(P.S. And they are stealing "trillions".)

[missingamerica]

I find it comical that the internationalists favor to cover pirate stories from Somalia.

I would rather learn more about the Pirates in Manhattan, London, Belize, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Caymans-Bahamas who are stealing Billions.

Posted by Liberty4You at 04:55 AM : Nov 26, 2008

It is how our laws work.

We can blow seafaring pirates out of the water, but the financial pirates to which you refer give each other immunity, clemency, and outright pardons.

Blowing seafaring pirates away is much less frustrating.