Karavatti:
The Indian Navy has captured 28 pirates of
Prantalaya-11, a fishing trawler, that was spotted 100 miles off the Lakshwadeep Islands.
The captured pirates from the hijacked Thai ship will be brought back to Mumbai.
The pirates surrendered after INS Teer and a Coast Guard ship and helicopters closed in on them.
Last week 18 Somalian pirates were caught in a daring Navy action.
Following is the Press Release:
PRESS RELEASE
ANTI-PIRACY ACTION : 05-0-6 FEB 11
In a well-coordinated and action-filled sequence of events at sea, west of India's Lakshadweep islands, the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard achieved yet another success in their on-going joint anti-piracy mission in the vicinity of the international shipping lanes that pass close abreast the Lakshadweep islands.
In the evening of 05 February, the Western Naval Command, which has the responsibility for all maritime operations on the western seaboard of India, received inputs from its warships at sea that a Greek-flagged merchant ship, MV
Chios, had experienced a concerted attacked by pirates aboard high-speed skiffs, some 100 nm west of Kavaratti island. Fortunately, the merchantman had, through a judicious mix of speed increases and evasive manoeuvring, managed to avoid being boarded.
'Joint planning teams' of the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard immediately swung into action and the training frigate INS
Tir (of the Southern Naval Command), as also CGS
Samar of the Coast Guard (Western region), both of which were already on an anti-piracy deployment in the general area, were ordered to search, locate and intercept the skiffs and the mother-vessel from which the pirates were appreciated to be operating.
Some astute professional work at sea resulted in the ships locating two skiffs in the early hours of 06 February. However, upon being ordered to stop and prepare to be boarded, the pirates aboard the skiffs opened fire at the
Samar and the
Tir, before speeding off. The I.N. and the C.G. ships tracked the skiffs back to the pirate mother-vessel, which turned out to be the hijacked Thai trawler,
Prantalay-11. This is one of a series of trawlers, all bearing the generic name Prantalay, but which distinguished from one another by their suffix number. Several of these trawlers are known to have been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, between four and six months ago.
Efforts to contact
Prantalay-11 on radio had the rather unexpected result of the naval warship and the coastguard vessel being once again fired-upon. Retaliating with strictly proportionate force, the
Tir and the
Samar returned fire. The resultant fire-fight was brief but decisive, with the pirates quickly losing any stomach they might have had for a protracted confrontation and hoisting the white flag of surrender. A mix of pirates and crew-members who were being held hostage aboard the trawler were collectively recovered by the
Tir and
Samar and transferred to CGS
Samar. The
Prantalay-11 has been taken under tow by CGS
Samar and the gallant Coast Guard ship is now en-route Mumbai where the pirates, hostages and the pirate mother-vessel will be handed-over to the requisite police authorities for further action.
This is the second successful anti-piracy action by the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard in the past week and tellingly demonstrates, once more, the effectiveness and seamless integration of the shore-based organisations as well the sea-going forces of the Western Naval Command, the Southern Naval Command, and, the Commander Coast Guard region (West).