BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Fourteen sailors are still
missing from a Thai trawler that was sunk last week by the Indian navy
as a suspected pirate ship, the vessel's owner said Tuesday.
File image of Indian navy frigate INS Tabar
One crewman was found alive after six days adrift in the Gulf of Aden,
and one is confirmed dead, said Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the
Ekawat Nava 5.
Last week, India's navy reported that the frigate
INS Tabar had battled a pirate "mother vessel" in the gulf November 18,
leaving the ship ablaze and likely sunk. Wicharn said that vessel was
his ship, which was in the process of being seized by pirates when it
came under fire.
Indian authorities insisted that their ship had acted against a pirate vessel which had threatened to attack the Tabar.
"We fired in self-defense and in response to firing upon our vessel. It
was a pirate vessel in the international waters and its stance was
aggressive," Commodore Nirad Sinha, a navy spokesman, told CNN. He said
the ship the Tabar fired upon was laden with ammunition. 
Watch more about the piracy threat in the region »
Wicharn told reporters that the Ekawat Nava 5 was headed from Oman to Yemen
to deliver fishing equipment when it was set upon by pirates off the
Horn of Africa. The pirates were seizing control of the ship when the
Tabar moved in, he said.
Wicharn said he learned the fate of his
vessel from a Cambodian crew member who survived the gunfire and
drifted in the ocean for six days before he was plucked to safety by a
passing ship. The sailor was recovering in a hospital in Yemen, he said.
Wicharn said his ship made a distress call on November 18 as it was
chased by pirates in two speedboats, but the connection was lost
midway. The owners, Sirichai Fisheries, had not heard from the crew
since then.
Later that evening, the Indian navy said it
encountered a suspected pirate "mother vessel," with two speedboats in
tow, about 285 nautical miles (525 km) southwest of the Omani port of
Salalah. "Mother vessels" are often used as mobile bases to ferry
pirates and smaller attack boats into deep water.
When the
Tabar's crew hailed the ship and demanded it stop for inspection, the
pirates threatened to destroy the Indian ship, the ministry reported.
"Pirates
were seen roaming on the upper deck of this vessel with guns and
rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The vessel continued its
threatening calls and subsequently fired upon INS Tabar," the ministry
said. The Indian frigate returned fire, setting the pirate ship ablaze
and setting off explosions on board, the statement said.
An
international fleet has been patrolling the waters off the Horn of
Africa in an effort to crack down on pirates based in largely lawless Somalia. 
Map of piracy incidents in 2008 »
Pirates have attacked more than 90 vessels off East Africa so far this
year, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting
Center, which monitors piracy around the world, including a Saudi
supertanker captured earlier this month.
The latest ship seized
was a Yemeni freighter Adina taken last week with a crew of seven on
board, including two Yemenis, two Panamanians and three Somalis,
security sources in Yemen told CNN.
The government is in
direct contact with officials in Somalia to work on rescuing the ship,
for which the hijackers are asking for a $2 million ransom.
While the pirate take over of the
Saudi super-tanker highlights the dangers facing cargo ships navigating
the Horn of Africa, marine security experts are warning that racing
boats, private charters and luxury yachts can be far easier pirate
targets -- rich people usually carry cash, and jewels. Watch the risks facing racers and luxury sailors »
And competitors in the world's biggest ocean race made an unprecedented
change of course this year as organizers mandated yachts steer clear of
Africa's east coast.