The waters in the Singapore and Malacca straits are still not entirely safe from pirates, as evidenced by three ships that were robbed this month alone as they passed through the area, according to Indonesian Maritime Safety Information Center (PIKMI) officials.
PIKMI receives incident alerts from the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Center in Singapore.
PIKMI member Mohammad Yasin revealed that the first act of piracy this month occurred on March 6, while the second happened only half an hour after the first incident.
“Then, in the morning on March 10, another robbery took place. The vessels that fell victim were the MT Sea Voyager, MT Orpheas and MT Cape Veni, respectively,” he said on Monday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
The crew of the Marshall Islands vessel MT Sea Voyager were held at knife-point by four armed pirates as it was en route to Karimun Kecil Island at 5:15 p.m.
The crew had sounded the alarm as the pirates approached and the uninvited guests fled the ship empty-handed.
Meanwhile, MT Orpheas was robbed approximately half an hour later at 5:40 p.m. The Liberian tanker was also on course for Karimun Kecil Island when five armed pirates boarded and took off with several ship parts.
MT Cape Veni, a bulk carrier from Cyprus, was positioned southwest of Nipa Island when it was approached by a band of pirates in a motorboat at 1:50 p.m.
The crew also sounded the alarm, prompting the pirates to immediately flee the vessel.
PIKMI is a unit that operates under the National Maritime Institute (Namarin) and is in charge of reporting sea crimes. It is the regional partner to ISC-ReCAAP in Indonesia.
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