Thailand has sought a clarification from the Indian Navy on its rules of engagement in sinking an alleged pirate ship last week off the coast of Somalia after evidence has emerged that the ship was a Thai vessel, officials said yesterday.
“We have asked the Indian authorities to help us verify the ownership of the vessel and then clarify their rules of engagement,” Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.
The Indian Navy frigate INS Tabar sank a suspected pirate vessel on Nov. 18 in the Gulf of Aden.
The vessel is now believed to be the Ekawat Nava 5, registered in Kiribati, an island nation in the South Pacific, but owned by Thai national Wicharn Sirichaiekawat.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said it was convinced the “pirate ship” was in fact the Ekawat Nava 5 because the owner of the vessel lost contact with his ship on Nov. 18 while it was in the Gulf of Aden and one of the crewmen, a Cambodian, who survived the attack has provided details of the incident from his hospital bed in Yemen, Tharit said.
Wicharn said the ship had a crew of 16 on board when it was attacked, including one Cambodian and 15 Thais. He said the ship was traveling from Oman to Yemen to deliver fishing equipment when it was first attacked by pirates and then attacked by the Indian Navy.
“The ship was raided by pirates, and all of the crew members were tied up when the Indian Navy attacked, according to the survivor,” Tharit said.
Thailand has sought a clarification from Indian authorities on whether the Indian Navy frigate attempted to assist survivors after it fired on the vessel.
“We are still awaiting their answer,” Tharit said.
The Indian government said last week that it sank a pirate vessel after it fired on the INS Tabar.
The INS Tabar had spotted a pirate vessel 528km southwest of Salalah, Oman, and asked the vessel to stop for investigations, it said.
The vessel’s response “was that she would blow up the naval warship if it closed in on her,” a government statement said.
“Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck ... with guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers,” it said. “The vessel continued its threatening calls and subsequently fired on INS Tabar.”
It said the Indian warship retaliated, leading to a fire and an explosion on the other vessel.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: The majority of chatbots tested provided guidance on weapons, tactics and target selections, with Perplexity and Meta AI deemed to be the least safe From school shootings to synagogue bombings, leading artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped researchers plot violent attacks, according to a study published on Wednesday that highlighted the technology’s potential for real-world harm. Researchers from the nonprofit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate and CNN posed as 13-year-old boys in the US and Ireland to test 10 chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity, Deepseek and Meta AI. Eight of the chatbots assisted the make-believe attackers in more than half the responses, providing advice on “locations to target” and “weapons to use” in an attack, the study said. The chatbots had become a “powerful accelerant for
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
RSS