The Battle off Minicoy Island was a single ship action in January 2011 between Indian naval forces and

Somali pirates Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali, ...

, during Operation Island Watch. Pirates in the former Thai

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets th ...

''Prantalay 14'' resisted and attacked the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

warship ''Cankarso'' and, in a long surface action off

Minicoy Island Minicoy, locally known as Maliku (), is an island in Lakshadweep, India. Along with Viringili, it is on ''Maliku atoll'', the southernmost atoll of Lakshadweep archipelago. Administratively, it is a census town in the Indian union territory o ...

, the Indians sank the hostile ship and rescued twenty captives.Pirate Mother Ship Prantalay Sinks off Lakshadweep during Anti Piracy Operations by India
Marinebuzz.com.

Background

''Prantalay 14'' had operated as a pirate

mothership A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental airc ...

in the Indian Ocean for several months before her sinking. After its capture, its Thai owners refused to pay a ransom for the return of the ship and its crew and four of its original crewmembers died of starvation while the crew was kept hostage by the pirates.

Battle

Early in the morning of 28 January,

Indian Coast Guard The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. The Indian Coast Guard was formally es ...

Dornier aircraft on a routine patrol detected two

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have deve ...

s and ''Prantalay 14'' chasing the Bahamian

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

MV ''Verdi'' west of the

Lakshadweep Islands Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast. The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the ...

. The pirates in the skiffs spotted the aircraft and immediately abandoned the attack and sailed back to ''Prantalay 14''. The aircraft reported the sighting and three Indian Navy ships were dispatched, including the 325-ton INS ''Cankarso,'' a under the command of Commander Arun Bahuguna. ''Cankarso'' was armed with a 30-millimeter CRN 91

naval gun Naval artillery is artillery mounted on a warship, originally used only for naval warfare and then subsequently used for shore bombardment and anti-aircraft roles. The term generally refers to tube-launched projectile-firing weapons and excludes ...

and two 12.7-millimeter machine guns. A few hours after receiving the Coast Guard's report ''Cankarso'' found ''Prantalay 14'' about north of Minicoy. ''Cankarso''s radioman tried to contact the pirates, but was ignored, so a warning shot was fired towards the pirates, who returned fire with

rocket propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads ar ...

s and

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s. An exchange of fire commenced and lasted for twelve hours before shots from the CRN 9 heavily damaged the trawler. Fuel drums that were stowed on the upper deck ignited and ''Prantalay 14'' began to burn. At that point the survivors abandoned ship so the Indians ceased firing. Thirty-five men went into the water, of whom fifteen were pirates and twenty were Thai and

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sailors on the vessel when the pirates captured it. Ten pirates were killed in the engagement, and the rest were taken to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

in ''Cankarso'' as prisoners. There are no indications that any Indian sailors were harmed. Mumbai Police have confirmed that they have registered a case against the pirates for attempt to murder and various other provisions under the

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established ...

and Foreigners Act after entering national waters without authorization. ''Prantalay 14'' burned for hours before sinking, during which and the Coast Guard ship arrived and assisted in rescue operations. A week or so later, Indian naval forces of Operation Island Watch captured ''Prantalay 11'', another former Thai trawler which had been captured by pirates.

Aftermath

The Indian commander, Arun Bahuguna was awarded the

Nao Sena Medal Nau Sena Medal (also spelt ''Nao Sena Medal'', lit. ''Navy Medal'') is a gallantry award for servicemen in the Indian Navy. History The Nao Sena Medal was instituted on 26 January 1960 by the Government of India, with the approval of the Presid ...

for his role in the engagement. The captured pirates were taken to India for trial where they were charged with kidnapping, kidnapping for ransom, attempted murder, and weapons related offenses. As none of the pirate's former hostages appeared as witnesses, the pirates were acquitted of kidnapping for ransom and sentenced in August 2017 to seven years imprisonment on the remaining charges. The pirates had spent six and a half years in prison prior to their sentencing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minicoy Island Conflicts in 2011 Naval battles involving pirates Piracy in Somalia Naval battles involving India 2011 in Somalia Naval battles and engagements of Operation Island Watch Combat incidents January 2011 events in Africa Piracy in the Indian Ocean 2011 in India January 2011 events in India Minicoy History of Lakshadweep Lakshadweep district History of the Indian Ocean 2010s in Lakshadweep Indian Navy Battles in 2011

Background

Battle

Aftermath

See also

References