Pirates Board Tanker off Malaysia, Steal Diesel Oil

zoomIllustration; Image Courtesy: Eunavfor Armed pirates attacked a tanker off Malaysia on June 23, stealing the ships diesel cargo, the IMB piracy reporting center informed. The attack occurred some 33 nautical miles northeast of Kuantan while the tanker was en route from Singapore to Songkhla, Thailand. After approaching in a speed boat, six pirates boarded the vessel and took all the crew hostage. They hit several crew members with guns and damaged the vessels navigation and communication equipment. Following this, the pirates sailed the tanker to an unknown location where part of the diesel oil cargo was stolen and transferred into another boat. They escaped with about 1.5 million liters of diesel oil, Malaysian news agency Bernama reported. Before escaping, the pirates stole crew and ship property. After their departure, the crew sailed to a safe port. World Maritime News Staff