Pirates hijack chemical tanker
Pirates hijack chemical tanker
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Gunmen armed with rocket launchers stormed a chemical tanker in the Strait of Malacca over the weekend in an unusually daring attack, raising initial fears of a terrorist attack, an anti- piracy center said on Monday.
Thirty-five pirates boarded the Indonesian-flagged ship MT Tri Samudra, laden with an unknown flammable chemical, on Saturday, briefly taking control of the ship before making off with the captain and chief engineer who were being held for ransom, the center said as reported by Reuters.
Spokesman of the Indonesian Navy Com. Malik Yusuf confirmed the report, saying that the Navy was now searching for the ship in a joint patrol with the Malaysian and Singaporean authorities.
But he told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the pirates could be able to change the physical condition of the ship within two or three days, thus making the search more difficult.
At the time of the attack, the ship was sailing for the Indonesian port of Belawan in the strait, one of the world's busiest sea lanes. More than a quarter of global trade and almost all of Japan and China's oil imports pass through the strait.
"It's the first time they have taken control of a ship like this for a long time... a couple of years maybe," said Noel Choong, regional manager of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.
"The initial fear was of a pirate or terrorist attack."
He pointed out that pirates in the strait usually only seized soft targets like tugboats that were slower and lower in the water, making them easy to board, Choong said.
After the pirates left with the captain and chief engineer, the ship sailed for the nearer Indonesian port of Dumai, southeast of Belawan along the coast of Sumatra island, he said. No one was injured in the attack.
"The (ransom) negotiations are underway," Choong said. He declined to give any details of the ransom demand.
One of the nightmare scenarios envisioned by security experts is where militants seize a tanker carrying highly flammable liquid, such as the Tri Samudra, and ram it into a port.
The three countries policing the strait -- Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore -- launched coordinated naval patrols last year in a bid to better secure the strait against piracy and potential militant attacks.