Hostage situation can be averted if ship has safehouse: Navy chief

Preparing for contingencies like storming an Indian vessel if it is taken over by pirates,the Navy has told the government that every Indian flagship...

Preparing for contingencies like storming an Indian vessel if it is taken over by pirates,the Navy has told the government that every Indian flagship must compulsorily have an on-board safehouse where the crew can barricade itself in case of an attack so that an operation can be mounted and a hostage-situation averted.

While the government will have to take a call on issuing such instructions,Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma told The Indian Express that the situation is getting tougher,given the ambitious reach of the Somali pirates and so measures will have to be taken keeping in mind future scenarios.

Every Indian flagship must have a safehouse for the crew to barricade itself. This will ensure that the crew on board is not taken hostage, he said.

This move comes in the wake of a recent incident involving a Russian ship,MV Moscow University,which was taken over by pirates last month in the Gulf of Aden. The 23-member crew cut the power and barricaded themselves. Soon after,a nearby Russian warship launched a helicopter that fired at the attackers and then captured the ship along with the pirates.

Faced with the daunting task of securing the multitude of Indian vessels moving back and forth in waters frequented by Somali pirates,Verma said a safehouse could even be the engine room of the vessel in case of smaller boats.

A safehouse,according to the Navy,should have rudder control and communication equipment with limited provisions. The room should be strengthened with added construction to prevent it from being breached easily.

Many countries have already started adopting innovative ways to protect their ships. These too have been shared with the Shipping Ministry so that certain upgradations can be mandated as self-protection measures.