Pirates attack tugboat off Pulau Tioman

Pirates attack tugboat off Pulau Tioman

Pirates armed with parangs swooped on a tugboat on March 22, just 22km off the coast of Pulau Tioman, a popular dive spot for Singaporeans.

The group of more than 10 pirates, mainly Indonesians, took over the S$5.8 million tugboat called "Marina 26", as well as a barge it was pulling. The vessels had left Singapore 24 hours earlier.

The pirates destroyed the tugboat's Global Positioning System device and the 10-men crew were tied up and locked up in one of the cabins.

"We were all shivering," the vessel's master, Captain Amri Arsyad, 31, told MediaCorp in Bahasa Indonesian.

They were held captive for two days while the pirates re-painted the vessel with leftover green paint they found onboard. The pirates then forced the crew to jump into a life-raft with some food, mineral water and their passports.

The next 40 hours were hell.

"We spotted a cargo ship and started waving and shouting for attention but it passed us by. We felt really helpless. Later that afternoon, the boat started to deflate and we paddled with our hands to try to reach Tioman, which was far away on the horizon," said Mr Amri.

Soon, they were tired and stopped paddling, letting the boat drift.

"It seemed hopeless. At the back of my mind, I thought that was the end of my life," he said.

Their fate changed when they were spotted by a fisherman who was passing by and came to their rescue. The crew, mostly Indonesians, are now recovering at Natuna Island in Indonesia.

A search and recovery was not carried out because the area is believed to be too large to cover.

International information sharing centre for maritime matters, ReCAAP ISC, has confirmed the incident and has circulated an incident alert with photos of the tugboat.

A similar hijacking off Pulau Tioman was reported in February last year.

The tugboat and barge is owned by Indonesian shipping company PT. Pelnas Bahtera Bestari Shipping. Its director, Miss Tresya, an avid diver who frequents Pulau Tioman, contacted MediaCorp with news of the incident.

She said "We hope to alert vessel owners and the relevant authorities to the piracy problems around our region which, we feel, have been neglected.

"The fact that this incident happened close to the coast of a populated area shows that the pirates have no fear. Many Singaporeans dive off Tioman and those who own vessels go there often. We want to warn them of the potential danger."

-News courtesy of Channel Newsasia-