Earlier this week the Singapore and Malacca Straights were the location for six pirate attacks in two days.
Five of the attacks are listed as boardings, with the sixth being an attempted boarding.
All six attacks occurred in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
Details of the attacks follow:
21 August 2015
1. At about 0230 hrs, Advantage Summer was underway when five perpetrators
attempted to board the vessel at the stern from a speedboat. The crew was alerted,
the perpetrators aborted the attempt and fled. The master reported incident to the
VTIS via VHF.
2. Slightly more than an hour later, at about 0340 hrs, Navig8 Stealth SV was
underway when four perpetrators armed with knives were sighted in the engine
room. The master raised the alarm and the perpetrators fled. There was no loss
of property and the crew was safe.
3. Less than an hour later, at about 0430 hrs, Maersk Lebu was underway
when four perpetrators were again sighted in the engine room. The master raised
the alarm and the perpetrators escaped in a waiting small boat. There was no loss
of property and the crew was safe.
4. At about 2329 hrs, Peace Bright was underway when four perpetrators were
sighted onboard the vessel. The alarm was raised and the perpetrators escaped in
a waiting boat. There was no loss of property and the crew was safe.
22 August 2015
5. At about 0525 hrs, Atout was underway when the crew sighted four
perpetrators without weapons onboard the vessel. The alarm was raised and they
escaped. There was no loss of property and the crew was safe.
6. About an hour later, Elbtank Denmark was underway when the crew sighted
four perpetrators armed with knives onboard the vessel. The perpetrators stole the
crew’s personal effects and escaped in a small boat. The crew was safe.
Malaysia and Indonesia are now currently deploying a rapid reaction teams to deal with this ever increasing piracy trend. There has been over 70 incidents this year alone – which is the highest amount since 2008.
image credits: fleetmon.com / shipspotting / marinetraffic.com / vesseltracker.com
