Robbers Board Maersk Tanker in East Malaysia

An unknown number of perpetrators boarded the oil and chemical product tanker Maersk Cancun while the ship was anchored at Sandakan Port, East Malaysia.

Illustration; Image Courtesy: Pixabay under CC0 Creative Commons license

The intruders boarded the Singapore-flagged ship, stole ship stores and escaped, regional piracy watchdog ReCAAP ISC informed.

The deck watch crew later discovered that the forepeak store locker padlock aboard the Maersk Tankers-operated vessel was broken.

The incident occurred in the afternoon hours of July 10, while the 50,000 dwt tanker was at berth.

Maersk Cancun’s crew was not affected by the boarding.

ReCAAP ISC informed that the agent and PFSO were informed of the incident, while the local police conducted an investigation and took a statement from the ship’s Chief Officer.

The piracy watchdog urged ship master and crew to report all incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships, exercise vigilance and adopt relevant preventive measures.