Indonesia to Coordinate with Singapore to Save 13 Sailors

Indonesia will coordinate with Singapore to secure the release of 13 Indonesian sailors on the Singaporean-flagged MT Gemini pirated in Somalian waters last Saturday, National Defense Forces (TNI) Commander Admiral Agus Suhartono said.

"It is true , a Singaporean-flagged ship has been hijacked by pirates and 13 members of its 25-man crew are Indonesians. We will coordinate with Singapore so that activities to be carried out to save the crew must be approved by the Singaporean government," he said here on Monday.

He said efforts to save the crew would possibly be done by the TNI task force recently carrying out a military operation in Somalia. In the operation to release the Indonesian-flagged "Sinar Kudus" TNI had deployed an LPD, two frigates, a helicopter and a special unit consisting of personnel from the marine unit, the army’s special force and the army’s strategic reserve command.

MT Gemini owned by Gory Ship Management based in Singapore said the ship was pirated on Saturday while it was sailing to Mombassa, Kenya. It said the crew members include 13 Indonesians, five Chinese, four South Koreans and three Myanmarese.

Agus meanwhile said that four Somalis had been killed during the operation to release Sinar Kudus and save 20 Indonesian crew on board. He said they were killed during a firefight. "We did not get their bodies that perhaps fell into the sea," he said.

He said there were 82 pirates on board when the effort to release the crew was being carried out. They in turn left the ship but when the last four would leave the TNI attacked them.

He said the TNI could seize one of their boats which it would take to Indonesia. He said the TNI had actually planned to attack the pirates after the crew was all saved.

"But our main task is saving the crew," he said adding a military assault was difficult to do and risky.

A military operation was risky because the crew members were separated and not put in place while the Sinar Kudus was located among eight other ships blocking access to it.

He said "there are 15 to 20 organized pirate groups each having 30 to 50 members" guarding the ship making it difficult for TNI to conduct an attack. 

source : here