ILLUSTRATION

Another commercial ship appears to have fallen victim of pirate attacks. Namely, Honduras registered product tanker Moresby 9, carrying 2200 metric tonne of Marine Gas Oil (MGO) was boarded by unknown number of perpetrators on July 4th at about 1938 hrs (local time) approximately 34 nautical miles from the Anambas Islands, Indonesia, ReCAAP ISC said.

Once informed of the incident, the Indonesian Navy deployed their ships to the location of the incident. However, they were not able to locate Moresby 9 off Pulau Anambas.

The last known position of Moresby 9 was approximately 36 nm from Anambas islands.

The shipping company that operates the vessel managed to establish communications with Moresby 9 and is currently conducting an investigation of what had occurred onboard the tanker.

Moresby 9 had a previous incident in 2013, but siphoning of fuel was foiled by the presence of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) assets at the location of the incident causing the robbers to escape without siphoning the fuel.

All vessels are advised to be on vigilance in the vicinity and report all incidents to the nearest coastal state and flag state immediately.

This is believed to be the seventh attack in the region since April.