Pirates boarded a containership and bulker in the Malacca and Singapore Straits early on Saturday morning.
At 0545hrs on 21 March the containership MSC Vancouver was boarded while underway by seven pirates armed with knives about 9nm east of Palau Karimun Besar according to the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC).
The second engineer was robbed of a gold chain and watch and no further sighting of the gang was reported.
Earlier at 0100hrs four men boarded the bulker Capetan Giorgis while underway 3.8nm off Tanjung Sengkuang, Batam Island. Nothing was found missing onboard and the crew was reported to safe.
“From the close proximity of the two incidents, it is of high probability that the robbers will continue to pry in this area over the next few days,” ReCAAP said.
“The ReCAAP ISC recommends vessels to take extra precautionary measures when operating in this area, especially in the hours of darkness, post extra all round lookouts and alert the authorities as soon as possible, even in attempted cases.”
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