Piracy & Robbery At Sea Incidents - December 2012
Continuing the overall downward trend in pirate attacks and robbery at sea across all HRAs over the last quarter of 2012, December reports indicate that one hijack and twenty attacks and robberies occurred, with South America seeing no activity reported.
A boat and a fully loaded Olympus 99 oil barge were hijacked by pirates in Nenek Strait, Batam, Riau Islands. Both crews were then marooned on an island. The hijackers changed the names of both boats before they were apprehended by Batam Marine personnel and Riau Islands Water Police 15 hours later, according to the Jakarta Post. 11 pirates were arrested. A further ten incidents occurred in the region. The Merlion Dau was boarded by eight pirates but were arrested by MMEA but only after they had killed the ships’ watch dog and injured three crew.
The Gulf of Guinea waters suffered eight reported attacks this month. Once more, attacks and approaches were mentioned but under-reporting, unfortunately, prevails according to sources in the region. There is great concern over the number of kidnapping incidents that occurred during three attacks. At least 12 people were said to have been taken hostage. At least 12 people were said to have been taken hostage, not including the six people from Hyundai Heavy who were released following a ransom payment.
Read the full report here 
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