Another product tanker hit by pirates leaving Singapore
Singapore: The Southeast Asian piracy watchdog ReCAAP sent out an alert on Sunday, warning that another product tanker has been plundered.
The Singapore-flagged Ocean Energy left the Lion Republic on Saturday morning bound for Myanmar. At 2130 hrs on Saturday eight perpetrators armed with guns boarded the vessel whilst it was heading up the Straits of Malacca.
The perpetrators ordered the vessel to anchor off Port Dickson where a barge came alongside. Whilst the master and crew were locked away, 2,023 tons of gas oil was discharged to the barge.
The perpetrators left the vessel at about 0430 hrs on Sunday morning , after damaging the ship’s communication equipment and took away the ship’s Iridium phone, the crew’s cash and mobile phones.
The ship returned to its home port and all crew was reported safe and not injured.
This was the fifth fuel siphoning case reported in the region since January this year.