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Enrica Lexie may leave Kochi today
MV Enrica Lexie, the Italian oil tanker involved in the killing of two Indian fishermen in gunfire from aboard it on February 15 off the Kerala coast, is likely to leave the Kochi port where it has been detained since February 17 on Saturday after the ship’s authorities complete the formalities for fulfilling the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court.
Ship’s owner Pio Schiano and captain Umberto Vitelli held talks with lawyers in Kochi on Friday to take stock of the situation. The Supreme Court had on Wednesday allowed the ship to leave India after depositing a bank guarantee for `3 crore and giving an undertaking to produce the ship’s crew members on requirement before investigators or court.
Naples-based Dolphin Tanker Srl, the company owning Enrica Lexie, is expected to deposit the bank guarantee with the Registrar General of the Kerala High Court on Saturday and the ship’s captain will complete the formalities of giving the undertaking to produce the ship’s crew members whenever the investigators or the court requires their presence. Talking to the media in Kochi on Friday, Schiano conveyed condolences to the families of the two fishermen.
Enrica Lexie has been anchored in the sea off Kochi coast after the Kerala Police carried out an examination on board on February 25 to confiscate the guns from which the bullets that killed the fishermen were fired. Earlier, it was berthed at the oil tanker terminal of the Kochi harbor.
The ship may leave the Indian shores on Saturday but the criminal case concerning the murder of fishermen Valentine, alias Jelestine (48), of Kollam and Ajesh Binku (25) of Kanyakumari will continue. The fishermen were engaged in their work on fishing boat St Antony off the Kerala coast when guards on the ship fired at them (presumably) mistaking them for Somali pirates.
Two of the ship’s guards, Italian Marines Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, arrested by the Kerala Police on February 19 on murder charge, are presently under judicial custody. Massimiliano and Girone, part of a six-man security detail aboard the ship, had allegedly shot the two fishermen to death.
Top Italian dignitaries like Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola, Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi and his Deputy Staffan De Mistura and several high-ranking diplomats had visited Kerala in their bid to save the ship and the marines.
The oil tanker may now be sailing out of Kochi on the orders of the Supreme Court for which it has laid down almost the same condition as had been imposed by a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court as back as on March 29. The shipping company had almost completed the procedures then by furnishing bank guarantee for `3.1 crore.
Dolphin Tanker approached the court seeking permission for the ship to leave after a division bench refused permission on the appeals filed by the relatives of the murdered fishermen who argued against the ship’s release before settlement of the issue of compensation.
MV Enrica Lexie, the Italian oil tanker involved in the killing of two Indian fishermen in gunfire from aboard it on February 15 off the Kerala coast, is likely to leave the Kochi port where it has been detained since February 17 on Saturday after the ship’s authorities complete the formalities for fulfilling the conditions imposed by the Supreme Court.
Ship’s owner Pio Schiano and captain Umberto Vitelli held talks with lawyers in Kochi on Friday to take stock of the situation. The Supreme Court had on Wednesday allowed the ship to leave India after depositing a bank guarantee for `3 crore and giving an undertaking to produce the ship’s crew members on requirement before investigators or court.
Naples-based Dolphin Tanker Srl, the company owning Enrica Lexie, is expected to deposit the bank guarantee with the Registrar General of the Kerala High Court on Saturday and the ship’s captain will complete the formalities of giving the undertaking to produce the ship’s crew members whenever the investigators or the court requires their presence. Talking to the media in Kochi on Friday, Schiano conveyed condolences to the families of the two fishermen.
Enrica Lexie has been anchored in the sea off Kochi coast after the Kerala Police carried out an examination on board on February 25 to confiscate the guns from which the bullets that killed the fishermen were fired. Earlier, it was berthed at the oil tanker terminal of the Kochi harbor.
The ship may leave the Indian shores on Saturday but the criminal case concerning the murder of fishermen Valentine, alias Jelestine (48), of Kollam and Ajesh Binku (25) of Kanyakumari will continue. The fishermen were engaged in their work on fishing boat St Antony off the Kerala coast when guards on the ship fired at them (presumably) mistaking them for Somali pirates.
Two of the ship’s guards, Italian Marines Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, arrested by the Kerala Police on February 19 on murder charge, are presently under judicial custody. Massimiliano and Girone, part of a six-man security detail aboard the ship, had allegedly shot the two fishermen to death.
Top Italian dignitaries like Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola, Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi and his Deputy Staffan De Mistura and several high-ranking diplomats had visited Kerala in their bid to save the ship and the marines.
The oil tanker may now be sailing out of Kochi on the orders of the Supreme Court for which it has laid down almost the same condition as had been imposed by a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court as back as on March 29. The shipping company had almost completed the procedures then by furnishing bank guarantee for `3.1 crore.
Dolphin Tanker approached the court seeking permission for the ship to leave after a division bench refused permission on the appeals filed by the relatives of the murdered fishermen who argued against the ship’s release before settlement of the issue of compensation.
