There is a Greek ship behind the case Enrica Lexie?

by Renato Imbruglia

The scoop of Toni Campbell reported from TgCom24 could throw a new light on the story of Enrica Lexie. The Friulian journalist argues that to shoot the two fishermen pirates or Indians have not been the marine riflemen on the Italian ship. Lethal confrontation would have instead had the Indian boats and a Greek ship, theOlympic Flair. In fact this view of events is not new, you can find already for several months, although not so protective nature toward the military. The reconstruction of TgCom24 is based on interview with the captain of the vessel to St. Anthony, Captain Bosco, which suggests a discrepancy between the official hours and real ones and especially the actual meeting between the Olympic Flair and some Indian boats off the coast of Kochi Anchorage, the same area where the Enrica Lexie is passed and where he crossed the pirates.

To combat piracy, the IMO has created an online database that collects all reports from the ships that they notice suspicious movements or suffer an attack.¬†A kind of map that tracked the most dangerous sea areas.¬†Analyzing the report that Olympic Flair sent to the IMO, and comparing it to the vicissitudes of Enrica Lexie, you can have some information to make the story more ambiguous than it may seem.¬†Olympic Flair reported the attack of February 15, 2012 local time 22:20, (16:50 UTC).¬†The position at the time of the pirate attack was “approximately 12 nautical miles WSW of Kochi, Kochi Anchorage Lt”;¬†the India was the coastal State concerned, and the exact location was “9¬∞ 57.00 ‘ N and 76¬∞ 02.00 ‘”.¬†The specific area was close to the port and the Status of the ship “was” the anchor “.¬†In the short description that is required in the form of IMO, “Olympic Flair” stated that “About 20 thieves in two boats came up with the ship and tried to Board.¬†The lookout crew spotted the robbers, giving the alarm and called to the crew.¬†The robbers gave up to seeing the crew movement and changed course.¬†Among the actions taken by the ship, in the report reference is made to alert the alarm and calling collection crew.¬†There have been no injuries, kidnappings, nor there are reports about weapons used by the pirates.

As you can see, there is no reference to a possible firefight or the presence of armed personnel on board the ship which then continued its journey, without being involved in the killing of two Indians, unlike Enrica Lexie.¬†Looking for some data about Lexie, missing Shannon report to official IMO, or at least there is one available.¬†It can be said that the incident of Enrica Lexie occurred approximately around the hours locally, 16:30 (11:00 UTC).¬†The vessel’s position was not far from where the Olympic Flair made reference in its report;¬†a few miles of difference.¬†The local 22:20 hours (16:50 UTC, as reported in the report of the “Olympic Flair”) the Enrica Lexie was escorted by some means of Indian Navy and an aircraft to the coastal port of Kochi.¬†The Greek ship was never stopped by the GOI, even for a confirmation or an opinion about the firefight.¬†But the most ambiguous, is that the report of the Olympic Flair you might not consider true.¬†In fact, the time of the attack on the Greek ship reported on the form, local 22:20 (16:50 UTC), substantively with the time when the means of the Indian Navy would be escorting the Enrica Lexie in port and would certainly intervene in defence of the Olympic Flair, given the proximity to the coast and a few miles away between the Italian and the Greek ship.¬†Daring also suspecting that the pirates attack a ship where there are several military units in that mirror.¬†Furthermore, the detailed description in the report of the Greek ship suggests that the attack happened during the day.¬†The identification of a precise number of pirates, and the certainty that the ship’s crew had seen the danger and was preparing for a self-defense, suggests that whatever happened in the sunlight and not at night.¬†Consequently, the abandonment of the pirates to attack because accortisi “crew movement” seems to confirm the thesis on the ambiguity of the actual time.

One would assume that the clash of the Greek ship with pirates there was, but earlier than reported; and why delay this report if there were no consequences? There are some aspects that the Greek ship wanted not to communicate? Or wanted to do it later, when the Enrica Lexie had attracted international attention? A few days after the incident, a Greek Government spokesman denied the presence of a Greek ship in these waters during those hours. That statement turned out to be false. What emerges is an ambiguity and confusion. Clearly it cannot be said that it was the Greek ship to shoot the pirates. The ballistic expertise on military rifles aboard the Italian ship showed that the shots were fired. It would be also the same criticism that in this case the Greek ship, but inverted: why Italy did not protest if the crime was not committed by its military on an Italian ship? Why pander to the Indian claims (right) if the fact has not happened? Certainly the Italian Government and national institutions have taken the situation in hand late, so clumsy, indecisive and inconsistent. But Greece has never worked, nor has been asked to determine at least one objective and uncontroversial reconstruction of temporal and spatial facts. Everything now does nothing but make the situation more uncertain. And surely the only losers were, beyond the two Indian fishermen, the two Italian soldiers.

Via: www.informazionimarittime.it