Indian ships tailing hijacked vessel

Indian coast guards rescued a Japanese ship last November

By Sanjeev Srivastava in Bombay

Two Indian Coast Guard ships have been shadowing a 15,000 tonne Italian merchant vessel hijacked by 10 Iranian and four Iraqi stowaways.

MV Med Star was hijacked shortly after the ship had sailed from the Iranian port of Bandar-e-Abbas.

A spokesperson for the Indian coast guard told the BBC that the hijacked ship was about 360 nautical miles north-west of Bombay.

It is estimated to reach the Bombay port late Tuesday evening or early Wednesday morning.

Indian authorities have established contact with officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who are expected to fly into Bombay to help resolve the crisis.

A commander of the coast guard, Prabhakaran Paleri, said that two Indian coast guard ships have been following the hijacked ship since early on Monday.

Hijackers unarmed

However, the authorities say there was no plan to forcibly board or storm the hijacked ship, as the captain of the MV Med Star had conveyed to them that the stowaways were unarmed.

The stowaways had earlier said they were carrying bombs and would blow up the ship if it turned back towards Bandar-e-Abbas.

They are demanding political asylum in any European country.

This is the second time this year that Indian naval authorities have been confronted with an hijacking on high seas.

In November last year, Indian coast guard ships had rescued a Japanese ship - Alondra Rainbow - seized by pirates after a dramatic chase and exchange of fire in the high seas.