Pirate ‘Mother Ship’ or Thai Trawler?

[4me2]

Pirate ‘Mother Ship’ or Thai Trawler?

By Graham BowleyA suspected pirate ship was sunk on Nov. 18 in the Gulf of Aden by the Indian Navy. The ship now appears to have been a Thai fishing trawler, according to a report. (Photo: Indian Defence Ministry, via Reuters)
As if things weren’t chaotic enough in the Gulf of Aden: a suspected pirate ship that was sunk last week by the Indian Navy now appears to have actually been a Thai fishing trawler, according to CNN, which cites the ship’s owner.
Last week, the Indian Navy reported that one of its warships, the INS Tabar, which had been deployed to the region to repulse the growing pirate threat, encountered a flotilla of three pirate vessels some 320 miles south west of the Omani coast. The Tabar fought a battle at sea, sinking one suspect vessel — what it called the “mother ship” — and forcing the pirates to abandon a second as they fled.
The sinking seemed to be an important blow against the pirates, most of whom are based in Somalia and who now roam across vast areas of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, attacking seemingly at will.
(A few days earlier, pirates had brazenly seized an enormous Saudi-owned supertanker, the Sirius Star, which remains at anchor off the coast of Somalia, close to a Ukrainian freighter loaded with tanks, artillery, grenade launchers and ammunition, which has been held hostage since late September.)
But it turns out now that the “mother ship” may not have been in pirate hands very long. According to the CNN report, the ship was the trawler Ekawat Nava 5, which had been headed from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when it was attacked by pirates off the Horn of Africa, according to Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the Ekawat Nava 5. The pirates were still taking control of the ship when the Tabar moved in, he said.
Mr. Sirichaiekawat learned of his ship’s fate when a Cambodian crewman was found alive by a passing ship after he had been adrift in the gulf for six days. He had survived the gunfire from the Indian Navy and the sinking of the ship, and was taken to a hospital in Yemen, where he is recovering. Fourteen other sailors from the trawler were still missing and one was confirmed dead, the owner said.
With the situation in the waters off Somalia clearly out of control, warships from the United States, other NATO and European Union nations and Russia are also steaming into the area as part of a reinvigorated worldwide effort to crush the pirates.
The German press published unconfirmed reports on Tuesday that the German government is considering sending up to 1,400 troops to combat the Somali pirates.
Others in the German press compared the ardency with which the country is willing to tackle the pirates with its contribution to the war on terror in Afghanistan, where Berlin currently contributes about 3,500 troops to the war, according to Der Spiegel.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/200...ai-trawler/?hp

[GTI]

Hero to zero in one week.

[4me2]

Hero to zero in one week.

Not if you read the story from start to finish.

But it turns out now that the “mother ship” may not have been in pirate hands very long. According to the CNN report, the ship was the trawler Ekawat Nava 5, which had been headed from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when it was attacked by pirates off the Horn of Africa, according to Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the Ekawat Nava 5. The pirates were still taking control of the ship when the Tabar moved in, he said.