June Piracy Reports

[Lats & Atts]

PIRACY REPORTS!!!

Recently Reported Incidents:

June 10, 2009 - 20 nm Off Nigeria: Five heavily armed robbers in a boat attacked a bulk carrier at anchor. Robbers boarded the vessel using rope attached to a hook. The robbers fired several warning shots and threatened to take the master hostage. Thirty-five minutes later, the robbers left the vessel with the ship’s and crew’s cash and crew properties.

June 10, 2009 - Off Ras Al Madrakah, Oman: Ten pirates armed with guns and RPG in two speed boats chased a bulk carrier underway. Master raised alarm, increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, sounded ship's whistle and crew activated fire hoses. Pirates attempted to board the ship using portable ladder. Master continued with the evasive manoeuvres and crew threw wooden and iron pieces to deter the pirates from boarding. The pirates showed hand signals to stop the engines and fired at the accommodation. After 50 minutes of attempted boarding, pirates aborted the attack and proceeded towards their mother vessel. Incident reported to Oman coast guard and coalition warships.

June 9, 2009 - Douala anchorage, Cameroon: Sixteen robbers armed with guns and knives boarded a refrigerated cargo ship at anchor. They attacked ship’s crew, damaged communication equipment and stole ship’s and crew cash and properties. Three crew members were injured. Master reported the incident to port authorities but no help was given. The following morning at 0745 lt, a military boat with officials came to investigate.

June 7, 2009 - Gulf of Aden: Four pirates armed with guns in a speed boat fired upon a bulk carrier underway. Master increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, contacted coalition warships and crew activated fire hoses. Pirates made several attempts to board the ship and later aborted.

June 7, 2009 - Gulf of Aden: Five pirates in a speedboat armed with guns approached a tanker underway and fired upon her. Master increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, ship's whistle sounded continuously, contacted coalition warships and crew activated fire hoses. Pirates aborted the attempt due to the evasive action taken by the tanker.



This update brought to you by....

[camaraderie]

These piracy reports have ALWAYS sucked as they focus on tankers and commercial traffic. If you want to do REAL cruiser oriented piracy/crime reports you should drop this and partner with noonsite and the safety and security net. This is useless.

[Cruisingdad]

Cam,

I will look into making this better. At least it is a start.

- CD

[Valiente]

Cam, I still appreciate hearing about this, because in some locales, yachts are left alone, while in others, commercial shipping is left alone. There are places where everything is fair game to the local water thieves.

[camaraderie]

Val...I subscribed to L&A for years and always hated this page because the very same places that EVERYONE knows about show up every month and cruising yachts are NEVER involved. I mean...you have to be deaf dumb and blind not to know to avoid the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden and the Mallacca straits.
The real problem is that the REAL crime ridden spots for cruising boats NEVER are reported on. The whole purpose of this column should be to inform cruisers where it is dangerous to go and it is less than helpful in that regard.
I repeat that for anyone interested in up to date danger info for cruisers, from cruisers...go to the piracy reports on noonsite.com

CD...I appreciate the response and I know you will work to get it right.

[Valiente]

Fair enough, I've never looked too closely at L&A because it seems like the Viagra wing of the Buffett Fan Club Newsletter....

I concur that Noonsite.com has timely and comprehensive (in that you frequently see "follow-ups" concerning the willingness of the local cops to pursue their local criminals) reports on the bad areas of note.

[bubb2]

I would like to add that Pirates were spotted on the Hudson and the docks of the Tarrytown Boat Club. This was reported to have occurred on father's day.

Smack, has pictures and I wish he would post them!

[smackdaddy]

They're comin' Bubb.

Yarrrrrr.

[bubb2]

Good on you, Smack. Yarrrrrrr!

[wind_magic]

These piracy reports always make me angry, and not just because they are acts of piracy but also because the crew of a bulk carrier has to resort to throwing heavy metal objects over the side of the ship at pirates who are armed with machine guns and rocket launchers ? What is wrong with this picture ? It is just annoying as hell when legitimate business concerns can't defend their own damn ship because of stupid laws everywhere, it's like the entire gun control argument in microcosm.