KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Indian navy has sunk a ship in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month, which was likely to be the Thai ship hijacked by Somali pirates, an official from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said here on Wednesday.

    "Based on reports from the crew survivor, the owner and other sources, we confirmed that the ship was most likely to be the Thai ship of the Ekwat Nava 5," said Neol Choong, director of the IBM Piracy Report Center based here.

    The Indian navy fired and sank a vessel with some pirates aboard, several hours after a Thai ship was hijacked by Somali pirates there on Nov. 18, Choong told Xinhua.

    The vessel was on their way towards Somali when it was sunk by the Indian navy, he said.

    One crew member on the vessel that was owned by a Thai was killed, 14 others were missing, but a Cambodian crew escaped and were found alive several days later on the sea, he said.

    Choong also said that IMB had disseminated the related information about the hijack to the coalition navy forces in the Gulf of Aden, but he was not sure whether the Indian and Russian navy forces stationed there received the information or not because the navy forces of the two countries were not within "the system".

    He urged all navy forces there to strengthen their coordination and information sharing in their operations against pirates.

    India reportedly sent its own navy ships to the Gulf of Aden in October this year to protect its own merchant ships.

    Earlier this month, reports said that India claimed its navy warship destroyed a Somali pirate vessel.