A Taiwanese captain who was killed during a NATO anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia earlier this year “was killed inadvertently by ordnance” by the US Navy, a long-awaited US report on the investigation into the incident said yesterday.
Wu Lai-yu (吳來于), skipper of the long-line fishing vessel Jih Chun Tsai No. 68 (JCT 68), which was hijacked by Somali pirates off the eastern coast of Africa on March 30 last year and used as a pirate mothership, died on May 10 when a US frigate, the USS Stephen W. Groves (SWG), operating under NATO-led counter-piracy Combined Task Force 508, engaged the pirates.
Initially expected by July 15, the report providing an account of the incident was delivered to Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director William Stanton on Saturday.
According to the report, which was conducted by US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), NATO Task Force 508 directed the SWG to shadow and then disrupt the pirate mothership and “authorized the use of force” to compel the JCT 68 to stop and surrender.
“On the morning of May 10, 2011, SWG executed a graduated use of force: issued verbal warnings; fired warning shots; and then employed 25mm, 7.62mm, and 20mm ordnance to destroy/disable the skiffs on JCT 68 and force the vessel to stop, release hostages, and surrender weapons,” the report says.
After the SWG fired on the skiffs, the pirates returned fire with AK-47 rifles and then subsequently surrendered, it says.
NATO Task Force 508 authorized the SWG to conduct a complete boarding of the fishing vessel to seize suspected pirate weapons and other equipment, which including several rocket-propelled grenades launchers, heavy machine guns, ammunition and about 15 AK-47 assault rifles, the report says.
An SWG boarding team found Wu dead in his sleeping quarters just aft of the wheel house on the forward starboard side of the superstructure, it says.
“As a result of its investigation, NAVCENT concluded that the Master [Wu] had been killed inadvertently by ammunition fired from the SWG,” it says.
Wu’s body was moved to the SWG and prepared for burial at sea without an autopsy because the SWG had neither medical personnel trained to conduct autopsies nor forensic capabilities. On May 11, four US sailors conducted a respectful burial-at-sea ceremony for Wu, who was laid to rest in his ship, which was then sunk, the report says.
In a statement, the AIT said the US “regrets that Master Wu was lost in the NATO effort to repress piracy off the Horn of Africa.”
The ship was sunk “to prevent it from becoming a hazard to navigation,” because the JCH 68 was determined to be unseaworthy after the shelling, the statement said.
“We again express our condolences to the family of Master Wu Lai-yu. On June 8 and again on July 23, AIT provided MOFA [the Ministry of Foreign Affairs] with information on seeking compensation from NATO and the US Navy, respectively,” AIT said.
AIT spokesperson Christopher Kavanagh said Washington was actively considering offering an ex gratia payment to Wu’s family and that Wu’s family could also claim compensation from NATO and the US Navy.
Speaking to the Taipei Times, Wu Hui-hwa (吳惠華), the daughter of the deceased skipper, said her family “did not find the report acceptable” because many questions regarding the cause of her father’s death had yet to be answered.
“They did not apologize for my father’s death,” Wu Hui-hwa said.
Wu Hui-hwa said her family would join a planned protest organized by Tsai Pao-shing (蔡寶興), director of Pingtung County’s Liouciou Township (琉球) fisheries association, in front of the AIT tomorrow.
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