Italy opens enquiry into India ship shooting

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Italy offered on Friday to send diplomats to India to help resolve a crisis sparked by the alleged killing of two Indian fishermen by Italian naval officers, as prosecutors opened an enquiry into the incident.

The Indian ambassador to Rome held talks at the Italian foreign ministry to calm the row which began after guards on board an Italian oil tanker opened fire on Wednesday on an Indian boat believing it to be filled with pirates.

'Willingness to cooperate'

Italy expressed its 'willingness to send a diplomatic mission from the foreign, defence and justice ministries to India to delve into all aspects of the case together', the foreign ministry in Rome said in a statement.

The ministry's secretary general Giampiero Massolo handed Ambassador Debabrata Saha a letter from Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi to External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna urging 'close collaboration between the two countries'.

The letter said that Italy and India enjoyed 'excellent relations'.

India, meanwhile, has opened its own probe into the incident, which has sparked a nationwide outrage.

Kochi Police Commissioner M.R. Ajith Kumar, who is facilitating and coordinating the probe said that no decision has been taken on arresting the Italian crew.

Kumar said a murder case has been registered and the Kollam police have begun investigations.

"The due process of law has set in, and at the moment we have not decided on any arrest. The case has been registered against two security personnel of the Italian ship," said Kumar.

Two fishermen, Ajesh Binki, 25, from Tamil Nadu and Gelastine, 45, from Kerala, were mistaken for pirates and shot dead by the crew of an Italian ship on Wednesday evening about 14 nautical miles off Alappuzha.

Ship sailing from Singapore to Egypt

The tanker was on its way from Singapore to Egypt when it came across a fishing boat which had been trawling for tuna fish and was on its way home when it was fired upon, the Indian navy and local officials said.

The Italian Navy has claimed the Indian fishing boat had behaved aggressively and had been warned on several occasions by the naval officers on board the Enrica Lexie before they opened fire.

The 58,000-tonne vessel has been seized and the passports of crew members have been impounded by authorities in the southern Indian state of Kerala.