AFP - The Indian Navy and Coast Guard have arrested over 50 people on board a pirate ship, after a shootout Sunday in the Indian Ocean, said the Indian Ministry of Defence.
"There were 52 people in total," he told AFP a spokesman of the Ministry of Defence, MrNambiar, who did not specify the nationality of those arrested or the exact number of pirates among them.
The arrests took place on a Thai fishing boat, caught six months ago off the coast of Somalia, which is presumably the basis for hackers to launch attacks against ships, the ministry said.
Mumbai police will interrogate persons arrested upon arrival in this port city.
Navy and Indian Coast Guard were sent in pursuit of pirates after a Greek-flagged ship had reported being attacked about 100 nautical miles west of Kavaratti, off the Indian state of Kerala ( south-west).
Indian boats chased two boats lighter and faster, which led them to the ship for a base for pirates, the statement said.
"Exchanges of gunfire were brief but decisive. The pirates quickly lost the urge to fight and hoisted the white flag to surrender," the ministry said.
"A group of pirates and crew members held hostage on board the boat were," he said.
Somalia is known to be a base for pirates who roam the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, more and more away from their coasts, seizing ships they hold with their crews for ransom.
