South China Sea Pirates: Escape Under the Radar?

UPDATE below.

The South China Morning Post headline reads Pirates who hijacked Malaysian tanker escape in lifeboat giving warships the slip | South China Morning Post

Xinhua photo

Pirates who commandeered a Malaysian-flagged tanker in the South China Sea have escaped from the vessel in a lifeboat, giving warships the slip under cover of night, the country’s naval commander said.

State-run Bernama news agency quoted Malaysian coast guard officials as saying all 22 of the MT Orkim Harmony’s crew were safe, though one was slightly injured.

“(The pirates) escaped from the tanker last night using a rescue boat,” Royal Malaysian Navy chief Admiral Abdul Aziz Jaafar said.

I guess the warships' radar was unable to detect a moving lifeboat.

Makes me wonder how that sort of boat would be useful is assisting a rescue at sea. Or perhaps the radar was -um- not operating properly.

Not a good situation since, as the article goes on to note:

Attacks on slow-moving, smaller coastal tankers like the MT Orkim Harmony are occurring roughly once every two weeks, the IMB said recently, with pirates usually siphoning off cargoes to other vessels before later releasing the tankers and crews.

UPDATE: Suspected pirates captured:

Kuala Lumpur: Eight suspected Indonesians pirates believed to have hijacked a Malaysian oil tanker with 22 crew members last week in the South China Sea were on Friday detained in waters near the Tho Chu Island in Vietnam.

"They were found near Tho Chu Island at about 6.30am. They were on a life raft and claimed they were from a fishing boat that sank," Royal Navy Malaysian chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar said.

Aziz said his men were confirming if those arrested were the hijackers of MT Orkim Harmony oil tanker.

South China Sea Pirates: Off Malaysia Tanker Hijacked, Recaptured, Pirates Arrested

ReCAAP ISC Image

Reported at SeaShip News here

The Sun Birdie ... went missing on Wednesday. The owner lost communication with the vessel on Wednesday. The last known position was at Lat 01°19.39'N , Long 104°12.35'E, a nautical mile south of Tanjung Ayam in Malaysia. Relevant authorities were deployed to track down the ship which was carrying 700 tons of marine fuel oil and had a crew of 11.
Late last night Malaysian authorities successfully recovered the Sun Birdie 17.63 nm northeast of Tanjung Penawar in Malaysia.
Authorities detained the ship’s crew and seven perpetrators found onboard Sun Birdie. The vessel was brought back to Penggerang for further investigation. Another two perpetrators jumped overboard and fled. They were picked up by a passing ship, Challenger Premier at approximately 12.73 nm east of Tanjung Penawar.

Portions of the Incident Update report from the RECAAP Information Sharing Center:

On 29 Jan 15 at or about 2253 hrs, the MMEA successfully recovered Sun Birdie at approximately 17.63 nm northeast of Tanjung Penawar, Malaysia (01° 42.03’N, 104° 30.46’ E). The MMEA detained the ship’s crew and seven perpetrators found onboard Sun Birdie. The MMEA brought the vessel to Penggerang for further
investigation. Another two perpetrators jumped overboard and fled. They were picked up by a passing ship, Challenger Premier at approximately 12.73 nm east of Tanjung Penawar (01° 30.2’ N, 104° 29.5’ E), and would be handed over to the MMEA. The
CSO of the shipping company of Challenger Premier reported the rescue of the two persons to the IFC.

You might find this ReCAAP report on Special Report on Incidents of Siphoning of Fuel/Oil at Sea in Asia (Part II) interesting. Part I can be found here, with this note:

Pirates/robbers appeared to have knowledge of the amount and types of fuel/oil carried onboard the tankers and the route taken by the tankers

Well, yeah.

Gulf of Guinea Piracy: Product Tanker Hijacked and Cargo Stolen, but Ghana Arrests 8 Pirates

Report from Live Piracy and Armed Robbery Report 2015

Location detail: Around 63nm SW off Bayelsa, Nigeria
Type of Attack: Hijacked
Narrations:
11.01.2015: 0500 LT: Posn: 03:44N – 004:59E, Around 63nm SW of Bayelsa, Nigeria.
Ten pirates armed with AK47 rifles boarded and hijacked a product tanker and took hostage all nine crew. They transferred the fuel oil cargo to another vessel and two pirates departed with that vessel. The Ghanaian navy dispatched a naval vessel to investigate as the vessel moved into its waters. The naval boarding team arrested the remaining eight pirates. During the incident the crew were mistreated by the pirates.

Emphasis added.

GNS Blika

More from Graphic Online Ghana Navy arrest 8 Nigerian pirates, frees seized ship:

The Ghana Navy on Saturday foiled a pirate attack on a Nigerian cargo vessel, MT Mariam and captured all eight bandits.

The pirates were armed but no one, including a nine-member crew aboard MT Mariam, was injured when the Ghana Navy crew aboard GNS BLIKA effected the arrest.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the 1 Garrison of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lt Maxwell Asola, all eight pirates are Nigerians.
***Lt. Maxwell Asola told the Daily Graphic that the arrest took place at about 10:30am and that the owner of the vessel in lodging the complaint, said the pirates told him via telephone that they wanted to use the vessel to carry out an attack and banged the phone.

This prompted the owner of MV Mariam to approach the Ghana Navy for assistance.

Southeast Asia Piracy: "Pirates board tanker off Pulau Aur, gun down Vietnamese crew member"

The Star (Malaysia) headline covers it: Pirates board tanker off Pulau Aur, gun down Vietnamese crew member:

Armed men who boarded a tanker in the sea off Pulau Aur, south Johor Sunday, shot dead a Vietnamese crew member and robbed the 16-man crew in what was described as the first fatality in Malaysian waters in two years.
***
The attack occurred about 5.30am while the asphalt-laden vessel was on its way from Singapore to Vietnam.

More from the ICC International Maritime Bureau Live Piracy Report:

7.12.2014: 0530 LT: Posn: 02:15.15N – 104:49.30E, Around 20nm SE of Pulau Aur, Johor, Malaysia.
Seven armed pirates boarded an Asphalt tanker underway from Singapore to Vietnam. They checked the cargo, stole crew properties and left the vessel. After the pirates left the vessel the crew found the third engineer bleeding from his head. It appeared that he had been shot. The Master reported the incident to POCC Singapore and requested for medical assistance. A medical evacuation was carried out and the third engineer was admitted to a hospital where the doctors pronounced him dead. The remaining crew are safe and the vessel was boarded by the authorities for investigation.

Nearby is a map, also from the IMB, showing attacks in the same area since the start of 2014. Every red marker on this map is a hijacked tanker of some sort.

While on this topic, a brief word of praise for the IMB's Piracy Reporting Center , which does a terrific job keeping track of piracy and armed robbery against shipping and seafarers worldwide. Noel Choong heads it up. It's an hugely valuable service they provide.