Wednesday, November 26, 2008
"The vessel was similar in description to what was mentioned in various piracy bulletins," an Indian navy spokesman, Commander Nirad Sinha, told AFP.
"The Indian navy ship asked them to stop for investigation on repeated calls. The vessel responded by saying it would blow up the Indian ship... Pirates were seen roaming on the deck with rocket-propelled grenade launchers."
He said the Indian navy only opened fire after being fired upon, and that "exploding ammunition was also seen" on the target.
The Indian Navy won international praise for taking on the Somali pirates, who have turned the vital Suez Canal trade route into the world's most dangerous waterway.
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| An alleged pirate vessel burns after being hit during anti-piracy operations at sea in the Gulf of Aden |
But Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) piracy reporting centre, said Wednesday the vessel attacked was a Thai-operated fishing boat which had been seized by pirates off Yemen on November 18.
Another Indian navy official, speaking on condition he not be named, dismissed the IMB's account.
"Photographs of the attack and sinking of the vessel show a huge fireball. This shows there was ammunition carried on board, otherwise how could it have been such a great explosion?" the navy official said.
"If it was a fishing trawler, it could not have resulted in such a huge explosion."
An Indian defence ministry official said: "They tried to attack us and our actions were in defence of that -- whichever the ship was."
"It was a was pirate vessel in international waters and its stance was agressive," the official said.
SOURCE: AFP, Wednesday, November 26, 2008