Malaysian warship saves Indian tanker from Somali pirates

Jaishree Balasubramanian
Kuala Lumpur, Jan 1 (PTI) An Indian oil tanker with 40
crew narrowly escaped Thursday from the clutches of Somali
pirates whose hijacking bid was foiled by swift intervention
of a Malaysian navy chopper in Gulf of Aden, preventing the
vessel from becoming the first victim of snatching in 2009.

"This was the New Year's gift to the owners of the
Indian tanker. If the Malaysian warship had not arrived on
the scene their tanker would have been hijacked," the
International Maritime Bureau (IMB) chief Noel Choong told PTI
here.

Choong said heavily-armed pirates on two speed boats
opened fire on the Indian tanker heading towards Suez Canal
early this morning but sped away after a Malaysian frigate
dispatched a helicopter to rescue the vessel.

No one was injured in the incident in which pirates
dressed in military attire raked the tanker's bridge and
accommodation bunks with machine gun and automatic fire.

On spotting the helicopter, the pirates stopped firing
and fled. The Malaysian helicopter did not fire at the
pirates' speed boats, he said.

The Indian tanker carrying full load of oil was heading
towards Suez Canal when it was attacked by seven Somali
pirates, who came close and fired at it.

The tanker's captain took evasive measures and sent an
SOS which was received by the Malaysian frigate KD Inderasakti
which was only 15 nautical miles away, he said.

The frigate dispatched a light military helicopter which
arrived within minutes and scared away the pirates' boats,
Choong said.

"The attack on the mid-sized 92687 tonne tanker was the
first pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden in 2009," Choong said.

He said the attack happened around 0330 GMT (0900 hrs
IST) when two boats, one with seven armed pirates, started
firing at the Indian tanker's bridge and accommodation.

"The captain sent out the distress call on channel 16
of the communication network," Choong said.

The Indian ship later followed the Malaysian frigate's
convoy.

This has been the second time the Malaysian navy has
come to the rescue of distressed vessels facing pirate attacks
in the African waters. Earlier last month a Chinese vessel was
saved by the Malaysian navy from pirates.

The Malaysian navy warships are part of the
multi-national task force operating in the troubled Gulf of
Aden off Somalia to stave off pirate attacks. Warships from
more than a dozen countries, including India, US, UK, EU,
Germany and South Korea, form the nucleus of this task force.

So far pirates, all of them suspected to be from
Somalia, have carried out more than 112 attacks in the African
waters around the Gulf of Aden since the beginning of 2008.

In November last year, 18 Indian sailors were freed by
Somali pirates after being held in captivity for two months
along with their ship M T Stolt Valor.

Nearly 20,000 merchant ships pass through the Gulf of
Aden annually on their way to and from the Suez Canal. PTI