Somali Pirates: Unexploded Pirate RPG Round Stuck in Ship Defused As Vessel Nears India

Large Red Arrow Points to Port Sikka Viciinty

An unexploded rifle rocket propelled grenade (RPG) fired a merchant ship during an attack at sea was still stuck in the ship as it neared India. Indian authorities acted to defuse the weapon as reported in "[Indian] Coast Guard, police bomb squad avert major mishap at sea"

A major mishap was averted today following a joint operation of Indian Coast Guard and state police's bomb disposal squad when a rocket propelled grenade thrown inside a cargo vessel by pirates was defused.

The operation was carried out in the vessel MT Agea in the Arabian sea, about 15 nautical miles off the Okha coast in Jamnagar district, coast guard officials said. According to officials, MT Agea, registered in Greece, was on its way to Port Sikka in Jamnagar from Antwerp in Belgium, when it was attacked by pirates, about 400 nautical miles away from Porbander.

RPG laucher and grenade

"The vessel was fired upon with arms and a rocket propelled grenade. One of the grenades hit the accommodation structure and did not explode," they said, adding that the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) regional headquarters at Gandhinagar was intimated about the incident by the vessel.

A bomb disposal squad was rushed to the Okha coast where an ICG hovercraft was kept ready for launch, while at the same time the vessel MT Agea was intimated not to enter Gulf of Kutch and anchor about 15 nautical miles off Okha coast.

Indian Coast Guard Hovercraft

"After three hours of operation, the live rocket propelled grenade was disarmed by the police bomb disposal squad, averting a major mishap at sea. The vessel was then cleared for undertaking her passage to Sikka," the ICG officials said.

UPDATE: The original attack and RPG situation was reported here by the ICC CCS:

Site of attack

Attack Number: 2011/095
Date: Fri Mar 04 2011
Vessel Type: Crude Tanker
Location detail: Around 320nm SE of Ras al Hadd, Oman
Attack Type: Fired Upon
Incident Details: 04.03.2011: 09:22 UTC: Posn: 18:35N – 063:47E, around 320nm SE of Ras al Hadd, Oman (Off Somalia).
Armed pirates in a skiff chased and fired upon a tanker underway. All crew apart from bridge team and unarmed security team retreated into the citadel. An unexploded RPG round was noticed on the deck of the tanker. Effective anti piracy measures resulted in vessel evading the boarding. All crew safe.

Somali Pirates: Indian Navy, Coast Guard capture another pirate ship, 52 arrested

Report that the Indian Navy, Coast Guard capture another pirate ship, 52 arrested:

Arrow points to Lakshadweep Islands

In the second major anti-piracy operation off Lakshadweep in 10 days, the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard today apprehended 52 men including 28 suspected Somali pirates on board a ship after a brief gun-battle near the islands.

The forces foiled a pirate plan to attack a Greek-flagged merchant ship and apprehended Prantalay-11, the sister vessel of fishing trawler Prantalay-14 that was also being used as the mother ship by the sea brigands and was sunk by the Navy in the Arabian Sea earlier.

INS Tir

"Naval ship INS Tir and Coast Guard ship ICGS Samar intercepted the pirates' mother ship Prantalay-11 within Indian waters after a gun-battle and forced the brigands to surrender. A total of 52 men have been apprehended of which 28 are suspected to be Somali pirates," Navy spokesperson Captain M Nambiar said.

Officials said the operation had started last evening when the Navy learnt that MV Chios was being attacked by two pirate skiffs some 100 kms off the Kavaratti island.

ICGS Samar

After receiving the input, Navy's western command here directed the INS Tir and the ICGS Samar, who are already deployed in the region for anti-piracy operations, to rush to the site and apprehend the pirates and their mother ship, they said.

"After locating the skiffs, the two ships asked the pirates to surrender but they fired back at us and fled to their mother ship. After the two ships tracked the mother vessel, they were fired upon again by the pirates," they said.

"The Tir and the Samar returned fire briefly after which the pirates raised white flags to surrender," they said.

NATO Photo of Prantalay 11/14

The pirates and the crew of the Prantalay 11 have now been brought to Mumbai for interrogation by police and intelligence agencies.

UPDATE: It gets better:
‘Stupid’ pirates caught after targeting coast guard ship by mistake:

A stereotypical depiction of a pirate would be incomplete without the trademark black eyepatch.

The Somali pirates who were arrested by the Coast Guard on Sunday might well have been wearing two.

The Coast Guard nabbed 28 pirates off the Lakshadweep coast in an operation that lasted more than 14 hours.

Their task was made much easier than they expected, after the pirates they were hunting down mistook the Coast Guard vessel on anti-piracy patrol for a merchant vessel and attacked it.

The pirates, riding high-speed skiffs, started firing at the Coast Guard believing it to be a potential target, but were neutralised by a joint team of Indian Navy and Coast Guard after high drama. They are now being brought to Mumbai to be formally arrested.

Well, not "stupid" perhaps, but certainly much mistaken . ..

Somali Pirates: Indian Navy Destroys Pirate Mother Ship, Captures Pirates

NATO photos of Prantalay

Reported as Navy destroys pirate mother ship, arrests pirates:

The Indian Navy and the Coast Guard in a joint operation on Friday, destroyed a pirate mother ship, Prantalay, off the Lakshadweep group of islands and arrested 15 pirates.

They also rescued 20 fishermen of Thailand and Myanmarese nationalities who were being held hostage by the pirates after Prantalay was hijacked by them on April 18 last year. Since its hijack, the vessel was being extensively used by the pirates to launch attacks on merchant vessels passing along the shipping lanes off the island chain.

Arrow identifies Lakshapweep Islands

“The vessel has been a risk to international shipping for many months and has carried out several attacks,” said the Navy in a media release.

See earlier report on the Indian Coast Guard stopping an attack from this mother ship here.

Good on India.

UPDATE: (30 Jan 11) More here including more details and identification of the Indian Navy ships involved, INS Cankarso, INS Kalpeni, and Indian Coast Guard CGS Sankalp:

There was an exchange of fire between INS Cankarso and the pirate vessel, following which fire was noticed in 'Prantalay' and some personnel were seen jumping into the waters.

Twenty Thai and Myanmarese fishermen, the original crew of the vessel, who had been held hostage by the pirates held hostage for over 8 months and 15 pirates, were pulled out from the waters by INS Cankarso. INS Kalpeni, CGS Sankalp, Naval and Coast Guard ships and aircraft are presently in the area searching for any fishermen or pirates, the release said.

Somali Pirates: Indian Coast Guard plane chases pirates away off Lakshadweep

Indian Coast Guard Dornier

Indian Coast Guard plane chases pirates away off Lakshadweep:

Pirates closing in on a merchant vessel off the Lakshadweep were thwarted by the Indian Coast Guard Friday with its patrol aircraft chasing the sea brigands away through a timely intervention.

The Bahamas-flagged container carrier, MV CMA CGM Berd (E1 note: ?), was sailing west of the Lakshadweep Islands when the Coast Guard's Dornier on a surveillance sortie noticed two skiffs in its vicinity around 10.30 a.m, a Navy official said.

Arrow points to Lakshadweep Islands

Soon, the aircraft descended to pass over the merchant vessel to check on the suspicious activity.

Noticing the Coast Guard aircraft, the pirates abandoned their plans to attack the merchant vessel and quickly sailed away from there, the navy spokesperson said in a press release.

Prantalay, pirate mother ship (NATO photos)

The patrol aircraft crew also sighted the mother-vessel of the pirates identified as merchant ship Prantalay, in the vicinity.

The navy and the Coast Guard rushed their ships to the location to keep a continuous watch on the movements of Prantalay, the spokesperson said.

'Because of the timely arrival of the aircraft, the merchant vessel is now safe and is heading for its next port of call in East Asia,' he added.