Pirates Attack Indonesia Methane Tanker In Malacca Strait March 14, 2005 2:52 a.m.
KUALA LUMPUR (AP)--Pirates armed with machine guns and rocket launchers attacked a gas tanker in a busy shipping lane between Indonesia and Malaysia over the weekend, kidnapping its captain and chief engineer, a maritime watchdog said Monday.
It was the second such attack in the Malacca Strait following the Dec. 26 tsunami, which some experts had thought may have decimated pirates who had long plagued the waterway between Sumatra island and peninsular Malaysia. The shipping lane is used by about 50,000 vessels annually.
At least 35 gunmen stormed the Indonesian-owned MT Tri Samudra late Saturday while it was ferrying a full load of methane gas from Kalimantan province on Borneo island to Belawan on Sumatra, said the International Maritime Bureau's Malaysian-based piracy watch center.
The attackers ordered the crew to sail toward Dumai district on a different part of Sumatra before disappearing with the captain and chief engineer as their captives, said Noel Choong, the center's regional manager.
"The long absence of pirates is over now," Choong said. "The attacks are starting again."
The ship owners are negotiating the hostages' release with the attackers, who have demanded a ransom and are suspected of being members of the Free Aceh Movement, a rebel group on northern Sumatra, which has been accused of preying on passing ships, Choong said. He declined to elaborate on the negotiations.
Piracy in the Malacca Strait ceased after the tsunami that ravaged Sumatra's Aceh province. Some experts speculated that pirates were either killed or lost their boats, while others believed the large presence of international troops helping relief efforts had deterred attacks.
The first maritime attack after the tsunami occurred Feb. 28, when four gunmen boarded a tug boat in Malaysian waters. They freed the boat's captain and a crew member after nine days, receiving no ransom but stealing money from the captain.
The International Maritime Bureau recorded 37 pirate attacks in the 885-kilometer-long Malacca Strait last year, up from 28 in 2003. Most attacks involved vessels being fired on and crew kidnapped for ransom.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have launched naval patrols to guard the trade waterway.
