Malaysia, Indonesia rapid response teams to fight soaring piracy

Singapore

MALAYSIA and Indonesia are deploying rapid reaction teams to combat a soaring number of attacks on merchant vessels in one of the world's busiest shipping chokepoints, a Malaysian admiral said on Wednesday.

Over 70 ships have been attacked in the Malacca and Singapore straits, on the western side of the Malay Peninsula, this year - the highest number since at least 2008, including at least seven at the end of last week, according to security and anti-piracy groups. "We have in general recommended that vessels proceeding to Singapore and passing Malaysian waters take appropriate security measures," said Michael Storgaard, spokesman for the world's biggest shipping firm Maersk Line. One of the ships attacked last week was the 106,043 deadweight container ship Maersk Lebu.