GPT 21

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GPT 21 hijacked and robbed off Malaysia

The "GPT 21" was hijacked in Malaysian Waters in the morning of Nov 7, 2013. The vessel was boarded by 10 armed pirates. They tied up all the crewmembers and held them hostage in one cabin. Later, they commanded to steer the ship to a pre-designated position. The vessel came alongside another orange hull tanker and the robbers forced the C/O and the bosun to use the cargo pumps and valves and the mooring winches. At around 4 p.m. LT the robbers left the ship after transferring and stealing all the gas oil. Before leaving the ship, the assailants also stole the crew's belongings. No crewmen were injured during this incident. The hijacking took place around 7.3 NM West of Pulau Kukup, being the third attack in two months, with the last two using the same modus operandi to steal the gas oil. The IMB has notified Malaysian maritime authorities that attacks are going up and they should put a stop to it before it gets out of control. Here are other pirate-related incidents that occurred this month: Nov 6, 2013: 0330 UTC: 05:40S – 046:59E: About 450 nm ESE of Mombasa, Kenya. One skiff with five heavily armed pirates approached a product tanker while underway. Alarm was raised, crew alerted, fire pumps started, speed increased, evasive manoeuvres made, SSAS alert activated and authorities were informed. The pirates fired at the tanker and the armed security on board returned fire. The skiff aborted the attack and moved away. Nov 4, 2013: 1230 LT: Posn: 03:54N – 098:46E, Belawan Anchorage, Indonesia. Duty crew on board an anchored chemical tanker spotted two boats nearby. Robbers attempted to board the tanker via anchor chain but alert crew thwarted the boarding. The second boat was hidden near the propeller and the crew could not chase them away with fire hoses. The propeller was turned on resulting in the robbers moving away. The robbers were sported with some stolen hull anodes in their boat. Port Control informed. Nov 2, 2013: 0330 LT: Posn: 21:40N – 088:01E, Sagar Anchorage, India. 15 armed robbers boarded an anchored container ship. D/O noticed the robbers stealing ship’s stores and raised the alarm. Seeing the alert crew the robbers jumped overboard and escaped.