MUMBAI/KOCHI: Drama revisited the high seas over the weekend as the Indian Navy and Coast Guard captured 28 more pirates after firing and a chase 100 nautical miles off Kavaratti in Lakshadweep. Defence personnel are likely to reach Mumbai with the pirates by Tuesday noon.
Defence officials said 52 men in all were apprehended, but 24 are suspected to be Thai fishermen who were hostages of the 28 African pirates. Capt Manohar Nambiar, defence PRO, said the pirates were detained on Sunday morning off the Kerala coast. On January 28, another pirate ship had been sunk, with 15 men from that vessel under arrest in Mumbai.
Nambiar said around 4pm on Saturday, the Greek merchant ship Chios sought help from the Lakshadweep control room, saying a suspected pirate ship was chasing them. The navy alerted INS Tir and launched a Dornier aircraft to search the region. The Dornier located the two skiffs and their mother vessel around 8 pm.
A Dornier aircraft launched by the navy informed the Southern Naval Command’s INS Tir about the location of the pirate ship, and it reached the area. The defence ministry said Tir continued tracking the skiffs and the mother vessel till first light on Sunday morning to ensure proper identification. Coast guard vessel ICGS Samar joined the operation at about 5 am.
On being asked to surrender and prepare to be boarded, the skiffs returned fire. “The defence ships chased the two pirate boats, which headed for the mother ship, a captured fishing trawler,” said a defence officer. The Prantalay-11 had been apparently hijacked several months ago off the Somali coast, since when pirates were using it as a mother ship. Defence officials said the pirates on the mother ship were asked to surrender, but they also fired. An exchange of fire ensued, during which the pirates hoisted a white flag to signal surrender. Sources said the pirates would be taken to Kochi first for medical assistance before being brought to Mumbai.
When navy and coast guard personnel captured the mother ship, they realized it was one of two Thai fishing trawlers hijacked in April 2010 off the Somali coast.
Read more: 28 Somali pirates held after hot chase off Lakshadweep – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/28-Somali-pirates-held-after-hot-chase-off-Lakshadweep/articleshow/7440040.cms#ixzz1DDd8ccnK
