India raps Italian Envoy for Murder on High Seas

New Delhi, Feb 16: Terming the killing of two innocent fishermen by Italian merchant vessel as “unfortunate”, India on Thursday summoned the Italian envoy to lodge its protest against the incident.

Shocked Indian authorities feel the merchant vessel did not follow the Best Management Practices for the action to be taken in the face of an imminent pirates attack.

“The first step according to the international guidelines is to communicate. But the UK MTO (Maritime Trade Operations), the Indian Navy, the Indian Coast Guard – no body received any communication from the cargo ship,” an official said.

The incident did not happen in Indian territorial waters (that extends up to 12 nautical miles from coastline) but in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ- that is up to 200 nautical miles from the coastline) off Kochi on Wednesday evening.

The Indian authorities are also questioning the Italian ship’s claim that the fishermen died in retaliatory fire. “First of all whenever there is piracy attempt after alerting the emergency communication room the ship is supposed to first deter by water jets, firing in air then injuring them if required and not killing them.”

“In this incident the merchant vessel seems to be relatively new ships so it can easily do a 14-15 nautical miles speed to evade the pirates. Moreover the fishermen’s boat was idling when the Italian tanker was passing by,” the official explained.

It was only after the fishing boat entered the harbor did the death of the two fishermen came to light. The Coast Guard sent a two boats and a Dornier aircraft to pursue the Italian ship Enrica Lexie and asked it to come to anchorage off Kochi for detailed investigation.

Reacting on the issue, Defence Minister AK Antony said: “This is a serious matter. But at the same time it very unfortunate incident. Kerala Police and Indian Coast Guard are investigating and meeting people (kith and kin of the fishermen). Let the law take its own course.”

Ministry of External Affairs also summoned Italian Ambassador Giacomo Safelic di Montefort. MEA’s Secretary (west) M Ganapathi asked the Ambassador to ensure that the Merchant Vessel’s Captain cooperates with the Indian officials investigating the incident.

The Italian Embassy in a statement issued on Thursday maintained that its ship was “attacked” in international waters.

"Italian navy personnel on board following international protocols after repeated warnings and after ascertaining from binoculars that the pirates were armed gradually fired some warning shots and the pirates withdrew.

"Later, the master of the Italian ship was contacted by the Indian coast guards and requested to direct towards the Kochi harbour to offer information on the pirate attack. The master agreed and the ship is now in Kochi harbour," the embassy statement said.

The Embassy added that it has been in touch with Indian authorities “to clarify all aspects of the incident”.