The International Maritime Bureau reported yesterday that the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) fought off a pirate raid on a tanker in the South China Sea.
The Malaysian naval force, assisted by the Indonesian and Singaporean navies, succeeded in fending off the attack late on Saturday, said Noel Choong, head of the IMB’s Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Centre.
The naval patrol boats arrived before the pirates could loot the Singapore-managed tanker vessel, causing them to abandon their prize and flee.
“The Malaysian navy quickly dispatched a patrol boat and managed to intercept the tanker. Pirates managed to escape before the arrival of the naval boat,” the IMB said in a report quoted by The Star Online.
It added that the crew and cargo were safe, but gave no further details about the tanker or the pirates.
Last Thursday, the United Nations stated that Southeast Asia has become the world’s piracy hotspot, after international efforts shut down the bulk of piracy operationg off the coast of Somalia.
Pirate attacks in Southeast Asia reached a high of 150 raids last year, the highest since the rate of attacks started rising in 2010, according to the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
