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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