KOCHI: A day after the Italian Navy personnel onboard a merchant vessel shot dead two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast, India is yet to initiate legal action against the culprits. ‘Enrica Lexie,’ the Italian oil tanker, has been brought to Kochi coast. This was done on the directive of the Union Home Ministry.On Thursday, a team of officials from the coastal security agencies and state police quizzed the security personnel on board, which yielded nothing. In the afternoon, Italian Consul General Giam Paolo Cutillo visited Kochi Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar and held talks about the future course of action. Later, the Consul General along with a team of officials from the police left for the vessel, anchored about 15 nautical miles off the Kochi coast. The Italian vessel, which was on its way to Egypt from Singapore, was carrying 25 crew members, including 19 Indians and six armed security personnel from the Italian Navy onboard. According to sources, the Naval personnel who shot at the fishermen are the riflemen of San Marco Battalion of Italian Navy. “They are reluctant to answer questions and hence the interrogation has not progressed much. They claim the fishermen tried to attack them and that’s when they retaliated with fire. “More information would be available only after a detailed interrogation in the presence of Italian Consul General,” said Coast Guard sources. The guilty crew are likely to be taken into custody and interrogated on Friday. The Italian ship was brought to the Kochi Oil Tanker Berth late on Thursday night.
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