A group of seven armed pirates hijacked a product tanker off Pulau Repong, Indonesia, as informed by anti-piracy watchdog International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
The Malaysian-flagged Singa Berlian, built in 1993, was boarded by masked pirates some 37 nautical miles south of Pulau Repong, Indonesia on March 9. The vessel was en route from Singapore to the island of Labuan in Borneo, Malaysia.
Once on board, the pirates took hostage of the crew members, damaged all the communication and navigational equipment and proceeded to transfer the marine fuel cargo from the tanker into another vessel.
It has been reported that 1,500 tons of marine fuel had been syphoned from Singa Berlian before the armed group escaped. One crew suffered a minor injury during the incident, IMB said.
The owner, Sin Soon Hock, informed the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) of the incident.
MMEA dispatched their vessel to the scene which lead to the recovery of the vessel off Batu Pahat town, Johor on March 11.
World Maritime News Staff