Tanker has close encounter with pirates in South China Sea

A tanker believed to be managed by a Singapore firm had a close encounter with pirates in the South China Sea, the Singapore Navy said in a statement on Sunday.

The Information Fusion Center, a multilateral initiative led by the Singapore Navy, received reports on late Saturday that an oil tanker was under the threat of a pirate attack in the South China Sea.

The Singapore Navy sent the RSS Gallant to help the tanker, which was joined by Navy vessels from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Separately, the International Maritime Bureau's Kuala Lumpur- based Piracy Reporting Center also said that the three navies fended off the attack, and the pirates fled the Singapore-managed tanker after navy patrol boats arrived before they could loot the vessel.

Pirate attacks in the waters off Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have seen a tendency to increase in recent years as international efforts have been stepped up to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia.

Attacks in Southeast Asia topped 150 last year after starting an upward trend since 2010.