The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) has reported three incidents of armed robbery against ships in the Singapore Strait over the weekend.
The incidents occurred within intervals of two hours and in close proximity to each other. The attacked ships are 2009-built panamax bulker Seajourney, 1996-built handy bulker A Racer and 2016-built ultramax bulker El Matador.
All the three ships reported unauthorised perpetrators who fled after the ships raised the alarm. Nothing was stolen and crew members are safe in all three incidents.
According to ReCAAP, a total of six incidents were reported onboard ships in the eastbound lane of Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Singapore Strait during October 11- 26 so far, making it the highest number of incidents reported in one month in the region compared to the previous months of 2020.
ReCAAP is concerned with the increase of incidents in the Singapore Strait and it warned that there is a possibility of further incidents as the perpetrators of these incidents have not been arrested.
ReCAAP has advised all ships to exercise utmost vigilance, adopt extra precautionary measures when sailing in the region and it has urged the littoral states to increase patrols and enforcement in their respective waters.
