New Delhi\Thiruvananthapuram:
India has disagreed with Italy's explanation for why the guards on board an Italian commercial ship shot two Indian fishermen off the Kochi coast.
Indian officials today said that the Italian Navy men opened fire upon the fishermen without any provocation. Italy had said that it mistook the fishermen for Somalian pirates.
The Italian envoy, Giacomo Sanfelice di Montefor, was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs yesterday. Italy says that the fishermen ignored warning shots fired by the guards of the Enrica Lexie on Wednesday afternoon. They say the firing took place outside India's territorial waters.
But Vice-Admiral K N Sushil of the Southern Naval Command said the Italian version of events is distorted. "They claimed that (their) ship was fired at by pirates. We don't see any bullet marks on the ship. It seems the fishermen must've laid their nets and relaxed, and when they saw the (Italian) ship, they suddenly sped up to save the nets, which may have led to panic from the ship's crew."
He also said that even if the guards of the Italian tanker believed the Indians were pirates, they did not follow international protocol. "It is known that 70% attacks were prevented by manouevering by ships. They had all the chance to stop them instead of firing," he explained.
The Kerala police are expected to arrest the guards today.
The incident has provoked anger among Kochi's considerable population of fishermen who will hold a rally today to protest against the Italians.