Indian
coastguards arrest hijacked freighter off Goa
London,
16 November 1999 -
Indian coastguards today boarded a hjijacked Japanese-owned freighter, the Alondra
Rainbow, off Goa and foiled attempts by the hijackers to set fire to the vessel
and scuttle it, the International Maritime Bureau reported.
The hunt for the Alondra
Rainbow was coordinated by the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The IMB is part of Commercial Crime Services, a division of the Paris-based
International Chamber of Commerce.
IMB Director, Captain Pottengal
Mukundan said "This was a perfect example of cooperation between the shipping
industry and law enforcement. The Kuala Lumpur Centre sent out a piracy alert
to ships at sea, and they were able to track the hijacked vessel as ship after
ship reported back that they had spotted the suspect vessel."
The Panamanian flag vessel,
launched in 1998, was carrying a cargo of 7000 tonnes of aluminium ingots when
it left the port of Kuala Tanjong in Indonesia on 22 October, bound for Miike
in Japan.
The ship was boarded by
mas
ked pirates armed with guns and swords, who blindfolded the crew of two Japanese
officers and 15 Filipino seamen. The hijackers cast the crew adrift on an open
raft on 29 October and left them with basic provisions for survival.
Thai fishermen picked up
the crew members off the coast of Thailand on 8 November and put them ashore
at Phuket.
Captain Mukundan said "The
Indian coastguard under Commander Rajendran performed magnificently. They used
aircraft and patrol boats in a search lasting several days. Finally, they located
the ship and put an armed party on board when it refused to stop.
"The alleged Master claimed
that the ship was the Belize-registered Mega Rama." But no such vessel could
be traced. The hijackers attempted to set the ship on fire and to scuttle it,
but they were foiled in time."
Later reports from the Piracy
Centre are that the ship has now been taken under tow and is heading for the
nearest port. The coastguard reports that an estimated 4,087 tonnes of aluminium
ingots are still on board. The hijackers are under arrest.
The IMB Piracy centre was
set up in 1992. It is financed by voluntary contributions from shipping and
insurance companies. IMB is currently setting up a weekly world piracy status
report on its new website at www.icc-ccs.org.