Piracy and tanker hijackings increasing

Tanker hijackings are becoming increasingly common in south-east Asia, with at least three attacks over the last six months.
In the latest incident pirates stole over 1 mm litres of gasoil from a tanker in Malaysian waters this month, after a gang of between 7 and 10 men boarded the 3,077 dwt Tioman near Pulau Aur.
The assailants attacked, beat, bound and blindfolded the crew, and removed all the communication equipment from the ship, owned by SEA Resources of Singapore. An unidentified tanker than pulled up and offloaded around one-third of Tioman's cargo of gasoil.
An unnamed cruiseship departing Manila on December 20 was harassed by a 10 m boat, which criss-crossed her path and lit a flammable liquid on the water. It then passed down the ship's side and fired a flare into the superstructure. There were no injuries and only minor damage.
Marlo also notes the attack on Isomeria, a Shell-owned 47,594 dwt LPG-tanker by four attackers armed with Uzi machine guns, near the Brazilian port of Santos on January 9. Police were alerted by a passing ship and shot dead one of the pirates and captured the others.