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Spanish FV Vega 5 Liberated

By ecop-marine

At 2100 hours on 12th of March, INS Kalpeni intercepted a pirate mother vessel called Vega 5 in the Arabian Sea about 600 nautical miles west of India. A total of 74 men have been apprehended of which 61 are suspected to be Somali pirates

A statement from the Indian navy reported its fast-attack craft, the INS KALPENI, directed "limited" fire on the vessel after being shot.

The operation had started last Friday when a naval Dornier aircraft located FV VEGA 5 while responding to a distress call from a merchant ship MV VANCOUVER BRIDGE in the area and foiled the piracy attempt, he said.

"Seeing the naval aircraft, the pirates immediately aborted their piracy attempt and the vessel used as piracy launch attempted to escape from the area. Simultaneously, INS KHUKRI and KALPENI were diverted to intercept and investigate," the spokesperson said.

After INS Kalpeni closed in on FV VEGA 5, the pirate vessel launched two skiffs attacking the Indian Navy ship with fire arms, he said.

"INS Kalpeni responded with limited firing and, thereafter, it was observed that a fire had broken out on Vega 5 and its personnel were seen jumping overboard," he said.

Later on, INS Kalpeni in conjunction with INS Khukri found 74 personnel comprising 61 pirates and 13 crew members of the fishing vessel.

So far it is clear that only a total of 13 crew-fishermen on board the Mozambique-flagged, Spanish-owned fishing vessel FV VEGA 5 were rescued.

The incident occurred allegedly 690 miles from the west coast of India, but a Indian navy spokesman stated it happened in Indian waters. India, like Somalia and other coastal states, has a 200nm Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is calculated from the farest island of a country's territory. The Indian navy did not provide an exact position, though. The Lakshadweep group of islands in the southeast portion of the Arabian Sea
Already fifteen suspected pirates - 12 Somalis, two Ethiopians and a Kenyan - face trial in India on charges including attempted murder after they were caught in January from one of the captured FV Prantalay vessels.

SOURCE: ecoterra-international.org