The Indian Navy on Friday evening blasted a pirate vessel in self-defence in the Arabian Sea just 90 miles north of the Lakshadweep Islands, and captured 15 pirates besides rescuing 20 Thai and Burmese fishermen who had been taken hostage by the pirates several months ago. Navy sources said the pirates appeared to be Somalis. This is the first anti-piracy armed action by the Navy closest to Indian shores. This also indicates the brazen audacity of the pirates who have now begun trying to hijack ships thousands of miles from Somalia and close to the Indian coast.
The Indian Navy’s INS Cankarso — a fast attack craft — was directed to “intercept and investigate” the pirate “mother vessel ”— named Prantalay. The Indian Navy ship fired a warning shot away from the pirate vessel but the pirates began firing back at the Indian Navy ship. The Navy then trained machine guns on the pirate vessel following which a fire broke out on board the vessel. Some on board were seen jumping into the sea from the vessel. Naval personnel then boarded the vessel and captured the pirates on board. Defence sources said it was unclear whether any of the pirates had been killed or injured in the action. The captured pirates are being taken to Mumbai by the Navy and could be produced before an Indian Court. “In a well co-ordinated and jointly conducted operation on January 28, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard intercepted Prantalay, a pirate mother vessel which was being used by Somali pirates since April, 2010, for piracy at various locations in the Arabian Sea. This vessel has been a risk to international shipping for many months and has carried out several attacks,” the Indian Navy stated. The chain of events began on Friday morning when a Coast Guard surveillance aircraft had chased away two pirate boats in the area which were trying to hijack a foreign merchant vessel. The pirate boats then raced back to the Prantalay which began retreating at high speed.
The Navy then decided to monitor and eventually intercept the pirate vessel .
“In keeping with internationally accepted norms, Cankarso fired a warning shot well ahead of the bows of Prantalay to compel her to stop. Instead of stopping, however, Prantalay suddenly opened fire on INS Cankarso. INS Cankarso returned limited fire in self defence out of necessity and as a proportionate measure only. Thereafter it was observed that a fire had broken out on Prantalay (mother vessels are known to carry additional fuel drums to fuel the skiffs),” the Indian Navy stated.