Enrica Lexie
Armed guards, reported to be Italian naval personnel, on the tanker, Enrica Lexie, fired on and killed two Tamil Nadu fishermen off Kochi on Wednesday, believing the fishermen to be pirates. Indian authorities said the Italian guards fired without warning in violation of international anti-piracy guidelines – a claim denied by Italy. Charges of murder have been filed.
Killing of fishermen: Italian navy men charged
“It’s a very serious and unfortunate incident,” defence minister A K Antony said. Italian envoy Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte was summoned to the external affairs ministry to convey India’s protest. In Kochi, senior Italian officials met Kerala government representatives to decide the future course of action and how to quell the uproar among fishing community in the state.
This came shortly after the ministry of external affairs summoned Italian envoy Giacomo Sanfelice di Monteforte to register a strong protest against the shooting. Secretary (west) M Ganapathi told the ambassador he must ask the Italian nationals involved in the incident to cooperate with the local Kerala authorities carrying out the probe.
With Enrica Lexie now anchored off the Kochi harbour, after being intercepted by Coast Guard ships and aircraft, its crew will be provided consular access after completion of legal formalities, officials said. Indian authorities can legally prosecute the crew if the shooting took place within the 12 nautical mile limit of Indian territorial waters. But it will become a slightly tricky affair if it’s conclusively established that the incident occurred in international waters, in which case they may have to face the music in Italian courts.
Earlier in the day, the Italian embassy claimed the Italian navy personnel on board Enrica Lexie fired warning shots after being allegedly attacked in international waters by the men on the Indian fishing vessel. “The Italian ship was attacked yesterday in international waters about 30 nautical miles off the south west coast of India,” it said.
“Italian navy personnel on board following international protocols after repeated warnings and after ascertaining from binoculars that the pirates were armed… (they) gradually fired some warning shots and the pirates withdrew,” the embassy statement said.
Indian officials, however, pointed out that the two Indians killed in the incident were “genuine fishermen” and could not have been mistaken for pirates since neither were they armed to open fire, nor did their boat have any other “piracy triggers”. Moreover, Enrica did not even report the firing incident to maritime authorities for almost three hours and was headed for UAE/Egypt when intercepted by Indian Coast Guard.
I am a Tanker Capt and for the last 8 years have been on the PG far east Trade . The area in question off the kerela coast has a lot of fishing vessels , which often pass close to large commercial vessels and are so busy with their fishing related activities that the do not follow the steering rules. While this is often annoying and inconvinent for large vessels, it is not a excuse for shooting at people . If vessels under my command had followed the same rules as the Lexie we would now have been guilty of a few hundred deaths. It sounds to my mind that the guards were not familar with the area and normal fishing vessel behaviour i wonder if the Master of the Tanker was in the loop when the order to fire was given .
This has all the makings of a international Incident , the incident has taken place just outside indian waters but in the EEZ so the flag state should have jurisdiction however as 2 indian nationals have been killed india will assert jurisdiction . It is also the most convinent forum . Having seen the italian govt statements it is quite clear that a fair trial cannot be held in Italy as without any investigation they have already exonerated the Guards .
Being a fellow Mariner and Tanker Capt who has been attacked by Pirates twice normally my sympathies would e with the Ship however in this instance it appears that a tragic mistake as been committed .If this leads to some action on the Piracy front some good may come of it Yet . This was something just waiting to happen , on at least 2 occasions i have personnaly heard radio messages reporting pirate attack which later turned out to be False alarms .
It does not matter whether the ship was in Indian waters or international waters. The murder took place on the fishing boat, which was flying an Indian flag, hence Indian laws apply. The home ministry has clearly explained this. Why no newspaper is highlighting this?
The Italians never gave the fishermen a chance, they waited until the boat approached closely and fired shooting one in the head and the other in the chest, which shows that their intention was to kill, not to scare them away.
The least that should have been expected is that the Italians should have offered medical aid to the injured fishermen. On the contrary the Ship has tried to flee after leaving injured fishermen to die in the high seas, which is against every accepted norm of the sea. Why is the Captain not being charged for abetment and destruction of evidence? Reports indicate that after realizing their mistake that they had fired at a fishing boat, the ship had changed its direction from its declared port of destination to put as much distance between her and the Indian shore. So far the Captain has not given any statement that the guards had opened fire on their own, which means he was fully aware and possibly had given the instructions to fire. Truth cannot be ascertained by press releases given by the owners of the ship or the Italian embassy, Truth can be found out only when the Captain of the ship is cross examined in the court.
From Press Reports – it clearly indicates the cover up on the part of the Italian Captain and his Government Spokesmen. Indian justice prevails and India should uphold the rule of law by charging all the naval men and the Captain.
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