(a) whether Indian fishermen were fired upon by Italian mariners in India’s territorial
water/exclusive economic zone;
(b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the action taken against the mariners;
(c) the details of compensation given to families of the deceased victims;
(d) whether armed guards on merchant vessels need fine tuning, and
(e) if so, the steps taken in this regard?
MINISTER OF SHIPPING (SHRI G.K. VASAN)
(a)&(b): Yes, Madam. On 15th February, 2012, the security guards of an Italian flag vessel,
M.T. Enrica Lexie, fired on an Indian fishing boat off the Kerala coast killing two fishermen.
The Indian Coast Guard diverted the ship to Kochi. The two Italian security guards have been
taken into custody by the State police.
(c): The Government of Kerala has made an ex-gratia payment of 5.00 lakhs each to the
families of the deceased victims. The Government of Tamil Nadu has also made a financial
assistance of ` 5.00 lakhs to the family of one of the deceased who belonged to Tamil Nadu.
(d)&(e): The Government has issued guidelines for deployment of armed guards on Indian
Merchant Ships. Further, all merchant ships have been advised by Directorate General
(Shipping) vide M.S. Notice dated 7th March, 2012 to report the presence of armed guards
on-board to Indian Navy/Indian Coast Guard