Italian media terms it a pirate attack, hails ship

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The Italain media on Thursday hailed the merchant ship that fired upon the fishermen off Kollam coast, claiming that the ship successfully withstood a piracy bid.

As per the reports in the Italian media, the men in the fishing boat attempted to board the Italian vessel. “Five armed men attempted to board the tanker, Italian Enrica Lexie, in the Indian Ocean, but the assault was thwarted by the escort of the Italian Navy,” reports the AGI.

The Italian media also cited an attempt Saturday last by Somalian pirates to board the merchant ship, Messina Jolly Arancione, which the Italian navy soldiers on board thwarted in the Arabian Sea off the Gulf of Aden. The reports suggest Wednesday’s firing was done in the backdrop of the earlier incident.

“It's the second time in a few days that the riflemen of the San Marco Battalion repel an attack by pirates, after the case of Jolly Arancione on February 11. This time, the target was the oil tanker Enrica Lexie, which was sailing 30 miles west of the southern coast of the Indian Ocean.

"The general staff of the Navy announced that, at around 12:30 (Italian time), a fishing boat with five armed people approached the ship,” Italy’s ANSA news agency reported.

The reports claim that the team of soldiers on board fired two shots to intimidate the men on the boat; and that, with the third round, the boat withdrew.

Boat operators assn seeks Rs 10 crore solatium

The Kerala fishing boat operators’ association has called for a compensation of Rs 10 crore for the families of the two deceased fishermen from the Italian government.

Legal experts here however say the immediate option before the ship owner is to deposit a certain sum before the court and release the ship that has been detained.

“In the normal case, the owner would want the ship rleased at the earliest. The initial compensation would be calculated and, as is the usual practice, the amount will have to be deposited before the court,” advocate Joy Thattil, admiralty rules specialist at the Kerala high court, said.