Indian police took two Italian security guards into custody on Sunday after two fishermen were allegedly mistaken for pirates and shot dead from an Italian oil tanker. The incident off the southern state of Kerala on Wednesday saw the fishermen gunned down in an incident that Indian authorities said would have been avoided if the vessel's armed guards had "exercised restraint".
But Italian officials said the Indian fishing boat had behaved aggressively and was repeatedly warned by officers on board the Enrica Lexie before the guards opened fire.
Ships are increasingly employing armed guards for protection off the coast of Somalia and across the Indian Ocean where vessels of all sizes have been seized by pirates, who often secure huge ransoms for the crews' safe release.
The two Italians were taken off the Enrica Lexie in Cochin port on Sunday after several hours of negotiations between local police and Italian diplomats who had flown to Kerala.
"Police took the two men into custody and they are being questioned," M.R. Ajithkumar, Cochin city police commissioner, told AFP. "They will be arrested and produced before the courts."
The 58,000-tonne tanker was on its way from Singapore to Egypt when the shooting occurred.
Various media reports have said the motorised fishing boat, which had 11 men on board, was between 14 and 40 miles (22 and 65 kilometres) off the coast when it was fired on.
The boat had sailed to trawl for tuna on February 7 and was heading home on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told his Italian counterpart in a telephone conservation that the fishermen were unarmed and posed no threat to any ship.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.