One crewman was found alive after six days adrift in the Gulf of Aden, and one is confirmed dead, said Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the Ekawat Nava 5.Given that the pirates were under control of the vessel at the time, opened fire on the INS Tabar, and failed to heed warnings by the Indian Navy crew, the Indian Navy operated within its rights under international law to deal with the pirate threat aboard the ship.
Last week, India's navy reported that the frigate INS Tabar had battled a pirate "mother vessel" in the gulf November 18, leaving the ship ablaze and likely sunk. Wicharn said that vessel was his ship, which was in the process of being seized by pirates when it came under fire.
Indian authorities insisted that their ship had acted against a pirate vessel which had threatened to attack the Tabar.
"We fired in self-defense and in response to firing upon our vessel. It was a pirate vessel in the international waters and its stance was aggressive," Commodore Nirad Sinha, a navy spokesman, told CNN. He said the ship the Tabar fired upon was laden with ammunition. Video Watch more about the piracy threat in the region »
Wicharn told reporters that the Ekawat Nava 5 was headed from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when it was set upon by pirates off the Horn of Africa. The pirates were seizing control of the ship when the Tabar moved in, he said.
Wicharn said he learned the fate of his vessel from a Cambodian crew member who survived the gunfire and drifted in the ocean for six days before he was plucked to safety by a passing ship. The sailor was recovering in a hospital in Yemen, he said.
Wicharn said his ship made a distress call on November 18 as it was chased by pirates in two speedboats, but the connection was lost midway. The owners, Sirichai Fisheries, had not heard from the crew since then.
Later that evening, the Indian navy said it encountered a suspected pirate "mother vessel," with two speedboats in tow, about 285 nautical miles (525 km) southwest of the Omani port of Salalah. "Mother vessels" are often used as mobile bases to ferry pirates and smaller attack boats into deep water.
When the Tabar's crew hailed the ship and demanded it stop for inspection, the pirates threatened to destroy the Indian ship, the ministry reported.
"Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The vessel continued its threatening calls and subsequently fired upon INS Tabar," the ministry said. The Indian frigate returned fire, setting the pirate ship ablaze and setting off explosions on board, the statement said.
It's an unfortunate situation for the Thai boat's owner and the crew, but the fault and blame for the entire situation rests not on the Indian Navy, but the pirates who continue to attack targets in and around Somalia.
UPDATE:
MSNBC decides that the pirate lifestyle must be explored, and have a photo montage highlighted above the fold. Nice. Of course, the New York Times already did that story a few weeks back. So did the Associated Press earlier this week. Meanwhile, Don Surber wonders what exactly a Thai trawler was doing off the coast of Somalia and thinks that the version told by the ship's owner doesn't quite pass the smell test.
The thing is, as I note above, once the pirates boarded and then refused to allow the Tabar's crew to board, it became a hostile vessel and the Tabar was within its rights to take it out.
What do we need to know about the background of these pirates? They need people to pay the ransoms to free the ships. No ransoms paid, no underground economy springing up to satisfy the demand. Take out the pirates on the high seas, and the pirates wont have any safe havens. These thugs are in violation of the laws of the sea and international law and every navy is within their rights to go after these pirates.
No comments:
Post a Comment