Pirates shot a crewman in the head during a brutal robbery of a Vietnamese tanker in the waters of Southeast Asia.
Tran Duc Dat died from his injuries during the incident on board VP Petrochemical Transport’s 3,100-dwt VP Asphalt 2 (built 2013), officials say.
Pirates stormed the vessel yesterday (7th December 2014)morning as it made its way from Singapore along the east coast of Malaysia.
After shooting the crewman, they stole property from the crew before escaping, Noel Choong, head of IMB’s Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Center, told AFP.
The official says a Singaporean helicopter had attempted to rescue the seafarer but he died from his injuries.
Roy Paul, programme director at The Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme, said: “Again a seafarers life has been unnecessarily taken by brutal criminals and this has caused a great deal of devastation to the seafarers family and his colleagues in the maritime industry.
He added: “The attack on M/T VP Asphalt 2 was close to the position where M/V Sunrise was attacked recently on 2 October, 2014 and this needs very intense investigation and a rapid response now they have taken another innocent seafarers life.”
According to Bloomberg this is the 10th attack by pirates in the area this year. It is also the third on a Vietnamese ship in two months.
While the death marks the first in around two years in Malaysian waters, the rise of maritime crime in the region has been highlighted as a cause for concern.
Of the 178 pirate attacks in the first three quarters of 2014, 103 took place in South eastern Asia, Bloomberg says citing IMB figures.
海盗袭击油轮致船员死亡
一艘越南油轮在东南亚海域，遭海盗残酷抢劫，其中一名船员被海盗击中头部。
官方表示，Tran Duc Dat 在VP Asphalt轮的这起事件中受伤身亡，VP Asphalt轮属于 VP Petrochemical Transport公司旗下，2013年建造，3100载重吨。
2014年12月7日清晨，船舶驶离新加坡，沿马来西亚东海岸航行时，海盗冲上船舶。
国际海事局吉隆坡海盗报告中心领导Noel Choong向法新社(AFP)透露，“枪击船员后，海盗在逃走前偷走船员财物。”
官方表示，一架新加坡直升机试图营救那名船员，但是他已受伤身亡。
海盗人道主义应对计划的董事Roy Paul表示，“这又是一次残酷犯罪致船员牺牲的事件，给船员家庭及其航运业内同仁带来极大的毁坏。”
他补充道，“VP Asphalt 2轮上的袭击与近期(2014年10月2日)发生在Sunrise轮上的袭击案的发生地非常靠近。海盗们在这么短的时间内又夺取了另一名无辜船员的生命，我们必须进行密切调查并迅速反应。”
据Bloomberg的消息，这是今年在该区域的第10起海盗袭击案，同时也是2个月内第三次对越南船舶下手。
尽管这是马来西亚水域近2年内第一起死亡事件，但是该区域海事犯罪的猖獗值得关注。
Bloomberg引用国际海事局数据，“2014年前3个季度海盗袭击案为178起，103起发生于东南亚。”
