Japanese tugboat

Japanese tugboat
attacked, crew kidnapped

Three crewmen were kidnapped after a Japanese tugboat was
attacked by pirates in the Malacca Strait late Monday, three days
after a gas tanker came under a similar attack in the area, a
piracy watchdog said on Monday. An official with the Marine
Rescue Coordinating Center in Port Klang, west of Kuala Lumpur
told AFP that the pirates have kidnapped the captain, chief
engineer and a crew member. The attack on the Idaten boat took
place 39 nautical miles south-west of the northern Penang island,
police said. Kyodo reported that two of the kidnapped crew were
Japanese, the third a Filipino. -- AFP