A Malaysian-flagged tanker has been recovered from pirates after being held captive for a week, ship owner Vast Alliance has confirmed.
The Arowana United was boarded by pirates while anchored off eastern Malaysia’s Labuan Island at about midnight on 19 October. The tanker docked at Labuan on 14 October to conduct bunkering but had to halt operations due to insufficient permits,” representative from ship- owner explained.
“The company had completed all paper requirements by 18 October and had scheduled the vessel to resume bunkering on 19 October. That’s when we received a call from our client to say vessel nowhere in sight”, added the representative from Vast Alliance.
Vast Alliance then alerted the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency about the missing tanker. The company official has further stated:” On 24 October, one of the crew were able to contact our head office to report that they had been taken hostage by more than 10 pirates armed with guns and knives.”
The pirates locked the five crew members in the cabin while the captain, chief engineer, and bosun were instructed to sail the vessel out of Labuan anchorage to Indonesia’s Pulau Natuna Islands. There, the tankers 650,000 litres of Marine Fuel, worth $3 393,000 was transferred to another vessel.
On 26 October Arowana United was spotted by the authorities off Pulau Natuna, whereupon it and its crew of eight were recovered.
“Some of the crew were slightly injured and had been robbed of their personal belongings,” said the company official.
The hijackers have changed the vessel’s name to Arow. The vessel docked at Port Klang, Malaysia, to allow its crew members to be questioned by police.
No comments:
Post a Comment