More Hijackings in Troubled Asian Waters

The New Paper

15 December 2014

Pirates have so far this year hijacked 13 vessels in Asian waters.

Compare this to last year, where there were only three reported cases, so this is a worrying trend, said Mr Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

A violent attack occurred in the South China Sea on Dec 7 when armed pirates boarded a Vietnamese-registered tanker, robbed its crew and killed a sailor.

…Should ships plying regional waters be worried? Maybe not, Dr Sam Bateman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies maintained.

His paper, titled “Piracy in Southeast Asia — The Current Situation”, argues that numbers are inflated when “a very minor incident of petty theft from a ship at anchor counts as one attack equivalent to a major incident”.

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