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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

River Pirates of the Danube

Romanian 'Pirates' Pester Bulgarian Ships on Danube River:
Romanian pirates have attacked by boats the Bulgarian ship "St Apostol Andrey" at the 128th kilometer on the Danube river.

The Bulgarian daily "Trud" (Labor) cites the captain of the ship, Nencho Anchev, who says 1 ton of barley from the cargo has been stolen.

The incident happened late Sunday night, neat the Romanian city of Braila, where the ship came to anchor. The crew noticed the loss in the morning.

"No one hear[d] anything during the night. It is just three of us working 12-hour shifts, so we do not have a night guard," Anchev says.
Bralia riverside
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Anchev further voices outrage that the European Commission is pouring money in border police cutters for Romania all while the Danube River remains unprotected from pirates' raids, adding such incidents were common occurrence.
Seriously? Someone unloads a ton of grain and the crew sleeps through it?

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:55 PM

    a ton is only 20 100lb bags. 1 man could do that in a very short time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a point, but still . . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:22 AM

    Is this technically Piracy? It happened in sovereign territory so it would not seem to meet the definition of piracy under any international accord.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are correct, though it depends on whose definition is being used.

    "River Robbers" would be a proper title under the UNCLOS definition of piracy (needs to be on the "high seas").

    The IMB has a broader definition of piracy, though, under which this might fall.

    ReplyDelete
  5. IMB definition: “an act of boarding (or attempted boarding) with the intent to commit theft or any other crime and with the intent or capability to use force in furtherance of that act.”

    ReplyDelete