Armed guards repel pirate attack from ship hijacked previous day

A general cargo carrier that did not have armed guards on board was pirated yesterday. It was almost immediately used as a mother ship to launch an attack on another bulk carrier. That ship did have armed guards on board and the attack was repelled.

Here’s how EU NAVFOR reported the events:

At approximately 0730Z on 16 March, the Bulk Cargo Carrier MV SINAR KUDUS was pirated approximately 320 nautical miles North East of the island of Socotra in the Somali Basin. Within 24 hours of being taken, she was used to launch an unsuccessful attack on the MV EMPEROR.

The MV SINAR KUDUS, which is Indonesian flagged and owned, was on its way to Suez (Egypt) from Singapore when it was attacked. Details of the attack are not known at this time but initial reports from the crew stated that 30 to 50 pirates had boarded and taken control of the vessel. The MV SINAR KUDUS has a crew of 20, all Indonesian.

Within 24 hours of the attack, the MV SINAR KUDUS was used to launch a further attack on the Liberian flagged Bulk Carrier MV EMPEROR. A skiff with 5 pirates on board was launched from the SINAR KUDUS and attacked the EMPEROR but was repelled by the armed force from the merchant vessel. The EMPEROR was subsequently reported to be safe.

The MV SINAR KUDUS and the MV EMPEROR were registered with MSC(HOA), and were reporting to UKMTO.

According to the Equasis data base, SINAR KUDUS is a 7,717 gt general cargo ship owned and managed by Jarkata-headquartered Samudera Indonesia. EMPEROR is a 38,870 dwt bulker registered to Attal Navigation and managed by Sea Lion Ship Management of Mumbai.

March 17, 2011