I've an idea it was still on the books in the UK right up to the abolition of the death penalty.

Sunken 'pirate ship' was actually Thai trawler, owner says

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) --

Fourteen sailors are still missing from a Thai trawler that was sunk last week by the Indian navy as a suspected pirate ship, the vessel's owner said Tuesday.

One crewman was found alive after six days adrift in the Gulf of Aden, and one is confirmed dead, said Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the Ekawat Nava 5.

Last week, India's navy reported that the frigate INS Tabar had battled a pirate "mother vessel" in the gulf November 18, leaving the ship ablaze and likely sunk. Wicharn said that vessel was his ship, which was in the process of being seized by pirates when it came under fire.

Indian authorities insisted that their ship had acted against a pirate vessel which had threatened to attack the Tabar.

"We fired in self-defense and in response to firing upon our vessel. It was a pirate vessel in the international waters and its stance was aggressive," Commodore Nirad Sinha, a navy spokesman, told CNN. He said the ship the Tabar fired upon was laden with ammunition. Watch more about the piracy threat in the region »

Wicharn told reporters that the Ekawat Nava 5 was headed from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when it was set upon by pirates off the Horn of Africa. The pirates were seizing control of the ship when the Tabar moved in, he said.

Wicharn said he learned the fate of his vessel from a Cambodian crew member who survived the gunfire and drifted in the ocean for six days before he was plucked to safety by a passing ship. The sailor was recovering in a hospital in Yemen, he said.

Wicharn said his ship made a distress call on November 18 as it was chased by pirates in two speedboats, but the connection was lost midway. The owners, Sirichai Fisheries, had not heard from the crew since then.

Later that evening, the Indian navy said it encountered a suspected pirate "mother vessel," with two speedboats in tow, about 285 nautical miles (525 km) southwest of the Omani port of Salalah. "Mother vessels" are often used as mobile bases to ferry pirates and smaller attack boats into deep water.

When the Tabar's crew hailed the ship and demanded it stop for inspection, the pirates threatened to destroy the Indian ship, the ministry reported.

I was interested to see that most of the attacks are in the Gulf of Aden, a relatively small area.

Some were certainly a long way out in the Indian Ocean though.

Link

I was interested to see that most of the attacks are in the Gulf of Aden, a relatively small area.

Some were certainly a long way out in the Indian Ocean though.

Link

Interesting to how it seems the bulk of the hijackings appear to have happened in what looks like Yemeni territorial waters. Plus a few more in Kenyan and Tanzanian waters.

I guess the Thai trawler was unlucky on two accounts. Being hijacked, and being mistaken as a pirate boat by a navy ship right afterwards.

Earlier I mentioned why didn't these ships sail further out to sea, thinking the pirates were only operating small, short range (and high speed) boats not suited to deep ocean use.

Now I see that they are using "mother ships", which makes sense (too bad again for the Thai trawler), plus the majority of the hijackings are occurring in what look like coastal waters (at least the ones in the Gulf of Aden).

I imagine there is a huge concentration of shipping in that area, going both directions. Maybe they should redeploy some of that fleet from the Persian Gulf over to the Aden instead.

The 4-6 ships currently in the area of Somalia's coast is no where near enough.

I thought I'd resurrect this thread in order to congratulate the US Navy on a job well done. The Maersk Alabama & ALL her crew are now safe, three Somali Pirates lie dead & the fourth in US custody. Pretty good outcome I'd say.

Agreed, pretty good outcome indeed.

Good outcome for the short term, but it might embolden the pirates to be more trigger happy regarding their captives. In these situations, a real victory doesn't exist for the long term other than the total eradication of the pirates.

The pirates have now said they will kill all US and French citizens they "find," as the spokesman put it.  He was outraged that some of his "boys" were killed. 

I mean the affrontry of the French and Americans.  Daring to shoot at kidnappers who are pointing rifles at their citizens. How dare they get in the way of honest pirates going about their business.

I heard this and I suppose it could mean it's going to get nasty...

I don't think it's too clever of Pirate Pete to take on the US Navy, all the same. I wouldn't be surprised if the joint efforts there don't eventually convince many of these mongrels to try their hands at something else.

Sadly don't think they have anything else.

The whole region is in virtual anarchy and piracy provides the cash for the toys the war-lords covet. They will not stop.