A yacht owned by an Indian billionaire fired shots at Yemen's Coast Guard after mistaking them for pirates

• Security guards on a pleasure yacht shot at the Yemeni Coast Guard in the Gulf of Aden on Friday.
• The guards said they mistook the Coast Guard for pirates, the Associated Press reported.

A famous yacht once owned by Hollywood actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor was caught in a skirmish off the coast of Yemen, on Friday.

Security guards on the 117-year-old super yacht, known as Kalizma and which is now owned by Indian billionaire Shirish Saraf, fired at an approaching Yemeni Coast Guard vessel after mistaking them for pirates, DW reported.

One Yemeni Coast Guard member was killed in the intense gunfire that followed. About 200 rounds of ammunition were exchanged, the Associated Press reported.

While the Gulf of Aden is a major trade route, it is also a hotbed for pirates, mostly coming from nearby Somalia, Marine Insight reported.

The AP, citing a brief from Ambrey, a maritime intelligence company, reported that the Yemeni Coast Guard approached the yacht after it failed to respond to radio calls. The Yemeni Coast Guard told Ambery that the armed men on board began to shoot as they approached.

The Yemeni Coast Guard returned fire and chased the yacht for almost an hour until it finally responded to radio calls, clearing up the misunderstanding, the AP reported.

The Coast Guard said the boat had been acting "in a very suspicious manner" because it had armed men and was approaching very close to the Yemeni coast, according to a statement obtained by local outlet Aden AlGad. Satellite data reviewed by the AP showed the Kalizma close to the coast.

The owner of Mumbai's West Coast Marine Yacht Services, which manages the yacht, insisted that pirates had attacked the yacht, the AP reported.

"If it was the Yemeni Coast Guard, why did they open fire?" Aashim Mongia told the AP.