TRIVANDRUM(India), February18 2012: The Kerala police on Friday sought the custody of the security officials of the Italian cargo ship who fired at an Indian fishing boat, killing two fishermen off the port city of Cochin on Wednesday, for interrogation. Cochin city police commissioner M R Ajith Kumar has written a letter in this regard to the master of the ship, Enrica Lexie, now docked at the port. He told reporters that he had asked the master of the vessel to transfer the officials involved in the firing to the port for questioning. The Neendakara coastal police have already registered a murder case against the vessel’s crew in connection with the incident. Police said that their investigation had revealed that Italian naval officers on board the vessel had fired at the fishermen. There were six naval officers on board the vessel to guard it from pirates. The police said they can ascertain the officials responsible for the firing only after questioning the crew and inspecting the vessel. “We have sought the transfer of the officials to the land to facilitate further investigation. We will decide the future course of action only after the interrogation”, Ajit Kumar said. The police commissioner’s letter came after the talks he had with Italian consul-general Giampaolo Cutillo. The latter has promised to cooperate with the Indian authorities in the investigation of the matter. The security officials Enrica Lexie fired at the fishing boat mistaking it to be a pirate vessel. The Italian authorities maintained that the navy personnel had resorted to the action after they were allegedly attacked by the men on the fishing boat. However, Indian officials have denied this. They 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”. Coast Guard Inspector General SPS Basra said the Italian security personnel had fired at the Indian fishermen without any provocation. The Indian authorities came to know about it only after the fishing boat reached the coast. After the incident, Enrica continued its journey. It was heading for UAE when the Coast Guard intercepted them. Basra said that the Italian vessel had also not followed the protocols before the firing. The ship should have activated the emergency communication plan to report the attack before it was way laid. It should also have activated the ship security alert system, sound emergency alarm and made ‘Mayday’ calls on the open VHF Channel 16 or Channel 08. However, no Indian warship patrolling the area got such a distress call from Enrica Lexie. Officials said that Enrica Lexie had also not taken evasive measures. “It prima facie seems the Italian ship, instead of first resorting to passive measures, directly engaged in active measures by opening fire,” they said.
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