Saturday 17 September 2011

Another Hijack Attempt - When it is Going to end

Following some confused reporting yesterday, when a vessel was reported to have been hijacked by pirates, it later transpired that the vessel had been boarded but the pirates were discovered to have abandoned the ship. On March 21 at 1202 UTC, a chemical tanker, believed to be Panama-flagged, MV Liquid Crystal, was reported coming under attack by a pirate action group (PAG) consisting of 2 skiffs in position 1714N 06318E, approximately 525nm east of Salalah, Oman.

The attack in the Arabian Sea is approximately 165nm Southeast of the last position reported on the MV Sinar Kudus at 0719 UTC. The PAG was reported to have fired upon the vessel using small arms. Initial reports, including other vessels relaying the distress message, state that the vessel had been hijacked, however, the events have been further clarified by an IMB Report, which states:
"Master increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, sent distress message and activated water jet from the fire monitor. Two of the pirates caught the ship’s side, cut the razor wire with a small tool and came on board while the other three pirates remained in the skiff. All crewmembers took shelter in the citadel. The pirates then made their way to the bridge and entered the bridge by breaking the glass and the protecting bars. The crew remained in the citadel for 3.5 hours and later searched the ship and found no pirates onboard. All crewmembers and the tanker are safe."Pirate Action Group attacks most recently have concentrated on the Northern Arabian Sea where the pirated MV Sinar Kudus has tracked north and is now heading southwest and has carried out an unsuccessful attack on MV Emperor. There is a likelihood that a pirated fishing dhow (possibly FV Montesa/Morteza) and 2 skiffs, reported in the vicinity on March 18, may have carried out the attack, however, this has not been confirmed. In the situational map below, the Taiwanese FV Jin Chun Tsai 68, (crew of 14 Taiwanese, 2 Chinese and 11 Indonesians) has been reported in the area, and may be the PAG carrying out the attack on MV Liquid Crystal..

Other PAGs have been reported being underway off the Somali coast and are most likely to be heading to operate in the southern Somali Basin off Mombasa, and towards the Mozambique channel.PAGs have been in operation in the areas for some time and, wherever possible, are reported here to ensure that seafarers may increase the situational awareness through information dissemination. The latest OCEANUSLive 'Horn of Africa Piracy Activity Update' can be seen here.Vessels are reminded that the coalition forces' warships may not be in the vicinity of a pirate attack, subsequently, it is emphasised that seafarers can greatly reduce their chances of being pirated if they follow precautions as recommended in the Best Management Practices, increasing speed and carrying out evasive manoeuvres is a proven deterrent to piracy attacks.Vessels are advised to exercise extreme caution when navigating in the vicinity of the reported position of the attack and maintain maximum CPA with any ship acting suspiciously. Additionally, registration of vessel movement with MSC(HOA)prior to transiting the region is recommended.OCEANUSLive.org permits the reproduction of this image providing source and link are published (Map ToU)Any suspicious activity should be reported to UKMTO in Dubai in the first instance (UKMTO@eim.ae or Telephone+971 50 552 3215) and on entering the UKMTO Voluntary Reporting Area (VRA) bound by Suez,78E and 10S.