KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26: The Somali pirate ‘mother ship’ that the Indian Navy sank in the Gulf of Aden last week was actually a Thai ship carrying fishing equipment that was being hijacked, an anti-piracy watchdog said on Wednesday.

“This mistaken identity may have caused the incident,” said Noel Choong, head of the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau’s anti-piracy reporting centre, adding that the incident should not hamper the fight against piracy.

Choong said the ship was being taken over by armed pirates when an Indian warship fired on it.

The Indian government said Thailand had asked for information about the incident, but insisted on Wednesday the Indian ship fired in self-defence.

Piracy in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest sea routes, has surged this year and this month pirates captured a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of oil, the largest seizure ever.

In the Nov 18 incident, one crew member of the Thai ship, Ekawat Nava 5, was killed, one rescued and 14 are missing.

Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the ship, said on Tuesday an Indian frigate, INS Tabar, had sunk his vessel suspecting it was a pirate ship, CNN reported.

He said the ship, carrying fishing equipment, was on the way to Yemen from Oman when it was set upon by pirates off the Horn of Africa. The pirates were seizing control of the ship when the INS Tabar moved in.

Naval officers on board the warship said they spotted pirates moving on deck with rocket propelled grenade launchers.

“It is to be kept in mind that the trawler was under the command of the pirates,” Pranab Mukherjee, India’s foreign minister, said in New Delhi.

“As per international law and practice followed by every country in the high seas, if the pirates do not surrender and if the ships or vessel is sunk, it is perfectly within the right as per international law,” Mukherjee said.

India’s navy said it hit an ammunition storehouse in the vessel, resulting in the massive blast.

“What was so much ammunition doing in a fishing trawler, if that is the case, and why did they fire at us?” Commander Nirad Sinha, the navy spokesman asked. IMB’s Choong said the Indian navy ship may not have received an IMB bulletin that the Thai ship was being hijacked. “That’s why Indian navy ships should coordinate with the IMB and the naval coalition forces operating in the region,” he added.

“We do coordinate with other ships in the region as well the IMB,” Sinha retorted.

India deployed the INS Tabar to escort Indian ships after the country’s shipping firms said they were losing $450,000 a month on cost overruns and delays in meeting deadlines.—Reuters