Jump in Piracy Attacks Off Bintan

SHIPS have been warned by the London-based International Maritime Bureau to 'take extra precautions' against pirates when sailing off Bintan, after a series of 'serious and brutal incidents' in the area.

The warning follows not just a rise in the number of attacks near the Indonesian island in the first half of the year, but more violent ones too - a trend the bureau finds worrying.

In a report released yesterday titled Piracy And Armed Robbery Against Ships, the world authority on matters related to maritime trade said that violent pirate attacks hit an all-time high.

Apart from the waters off Bintan, which is a 45-minute ferry ride away from Singapore, it has also labelled the seas off Bangladesh, India and Indonesia as places that are 'piracy-prone'.

The bureau's director, Captain Pottengal Mukundan, said yesterday: 'It's vital that coastal states in these and other risk-prone areas deploy patrol vessels capable of dealing with these incidents.

'They also need to ensure that these criminals don't treat these waters as a pirates' charter. We'd like to see the arrest and prosecution of these gangs.'

Listing all reported piracy incidents in the first half of this year, the bureau said that between January and June, the number worldwide shot up 37 per cent to 234 incidents. There were 171 during the same period last year.

The highest number of attacks took place in the waters off Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago.

Sixty-four incidents in all - more than a quarter of the world total - took place there. Forty-three ships were boarded by pirates, four vessels were hijacked and attempted attacks were made on another 17.

'It was also the location where the greatest violence was experienced, with many of the pirates armed with guns and knives,' said the bureau.

It added that 'there are no signs the number of attacks will drop unless Indonesia takes serious steps to address the problem'.

Concern over the violence of attacks off Bintan has prompted the bureau to highlight the matter to Jakarta.

As an added safeguard, it has also broadcast special 'piracy warnings' to all merchant ships, using an international maritime satellite phone network called Inmarsat C.

Another piracy hot spot in the region: the Straits of Malacca. Fifteen attacks took place there in the first half of this year.

The bureau has cautioned ships to avoid anchoring along the Indonesian coast of the straits unless they have to do so for 'urgent operational reasons'.