Piracy threat to 67,000 Indians

New Delhi, Nov. 21: A principal source of concern for India, which explains its alacrity in deploying the Navy to the Gulf of Aden area to fight off Somali sea pirates, is the very high proportion of Indian crew employed in international merchant marine who can become targets for ransom any time, maintains an official familiar with recent developments. The threat of Somali piracy has increased three-fold over 2007, with at least 92 merchant vessels having been attacked off the coast of Somalia this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. This makes it approximately one ship every three-and-a-half days. Such high frequency of targeting of merchant vessels exposes Indian seafarers to considerable risk of becoming ransom victims. According to a senior source in the Maritime Union of India (MUI), India supplies the highest manpower to world merchant shipping after the Philippines, with figures for Chinese seamen being somewhat unclear. Of the approximately 37,000 Indian ratings and 30,000 officers, about a third are employed on ships bearing the Indian flag. The rest operate foreign vessels. All are exposed to the rising danger of being seized by the Somali pirates, given the volume of traffic that sails through the Gulf of Aden. This matter was high on the agenda of the MUI, which has just concluded a session in Visakhapatnam. International reports suggest that at least 14 ships, carrying 250 crew members, are in the captivity of pirates. At least seven of them, taken when the Iranian grain ship Delight was seized last Tuesday, are Indian. The MUI figures the number could be slightly higher. A well-placed official source believes one in every eight or nine crew on merchant ships worldwide is Indian. Recently, a ransom of more than $1 million had to be paid to rescue the Indians on Stolt Valor. About $30 million has been paid to Somali pirates as ransom this year, according to a report released by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week. This is small beer in the context of the ransom demand of a couple of hundred million dollars being talked about to release the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star, seized by Somali sea robbers on Tuesday. South Korea decide to send a destroyer to the Gulf of Aden. Japan is said to be mulling something similar.

"Loved reading this piece by G. ARAVINTHAN?
Join LAWyersClubIndia's network for daily News Updates, Judgment Summaries, Articles, Forum Threads, Online Law Courses, and MUCH MORE!!"

Join our Telegram group

Join our Whatsapp group