Pirates attempt to board Japanese oil tanker in Singapore Strait
Kuala Lumpur (AFP)--6Apr2005
A huge Japanese-owned crude oil tanker has come under attack from a gang of pirates in the Singapore Strait off Indonesia's Karimun islands, a maritime official said Wednesday. "Pirates in seven small fishing boats surrounded the tanker and attempted to board it late Tuesday," Noel Choong, head of the Piracy Reporting Centre of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) told AFP. The Karimun islands are located in the southern tip of the Malacca Strait. The 150,000mt "Yohteisan" was on an eastbound journey in heavy rain and poor visibility when the incident occurred, another maritime official said. Choong said the captain of the Panama-registered tanker took evasive measures, including increasing speed to beat off the attackers. All the crew members were safe and the tanker continued with its journey, he said, without elaborating. Choong said the tanker could have posed an environmental disaster if the pirates had succeeded in boarding the ship. "Anything could have happened. Singapore of course will take this attack seriously," he said.
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