Shipping group demands safety in Arabian Sea

HButler - 

Amid almost daily pirate attacks, The Baltic and International Maritime Council warned Indian officials its members would find other routes if the shipping lanes between India and Africa could not be made safe.

BIMCO, the world's largest private shipping organization, informed the Indian Coast Guard of plans not to use the Indian Ocean Region and the Arabian Sea route if widespread piracy continues.

"They demanded that strict measures be taken so that the affected region could be made safe for shipping traffic," a senior Coast Guard officer told an Indian news service. "The message was conveyed last week to authorities. Now rescue calls are being dealt with strictly."

Approximately 15 hijacking attempts were seen in the Arabian Sea region in the last 15 days. From activities over the past year or more, pirates currently hold hostage about 700 people and 31 merchant ships.

On Jan. 28, the Indian Navy and Coast Guard destroyed a pirate mother ship, the Prantalay 14, which had been used to attack a CMA CGM vessel in the South Arabian Sea, and arrested 15 pirates during an anti-piracy operation off the Lakshadweep coast. The captured pirates were brought to Mumbai.

On Feb. 6, Indian Coast Guard and Navy forces captured 28 pirates and rescued 24 Thai fishermen held hostage by the pirates. The Indian forces also seized a pirate mother ship, the Prantalay-11, which had been used to attack the Greek-flag merchant ship Chios some 100 nautical miles west of Kavaratti, part of the Lakshadweep group of islands.

On Feb. 8, a gang of suspected Somali pirates hijacked an Italian oil vessel, the Savina Caylynwas, off the coast of Somalia, according to the European Union's anti-piracy mission.

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