KOCHI: Busting the ‘piracy attack’ theory by Italian vessel Enrica Lexie, a preliminary inquiry report of the Coast Guard has revealed that the Italian tanker did not have a response plan against piracy attack. The report revealed that the incident could have been avoided had the vessel adhered to a response plan or mechanism for thwarting piracy attack.The report pointed out that the act was contravention of the guidelines and a case of excessive use of force without assessing the situation. The vessel had violated the International Maritime Organisation guidelines to ship masters and others on the use of privately contracted armed security personnel on ships in the high risk area.The use of force by Lexie was illegal since the fishing boat was 100 metres from the vessel and was not making attempts for boarding the vessel. The ship was steering a course of 328 during the incident and it was 20.5 nautical miles from the nearest coast.
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