GOVERMENT HOUSE HONG KONG.
WED 27 MAY 92 08:51
PG.08
4
Police are currently investigating one such case in which
the Chief Officer was shot dead.
10. A short
11.
discussion on who should investigate these cases
then took place, for example, when the attack occurred in
international waters. The Malaysian delegate suggested that
more than one jurisdiction was involved, and that there
should be co-operation in investigation.
It was noted that hijacking of ships appeared to receive
much lower priority than aircraft, and suggested by Captain
Brown (Shell Tankers/ISF) that this was due to the lower
profile of shipping in the news media. Aircraft were also
required to
obtain landing clearance at destination whereas
ships did not. Mr. Farlie suggested that shipowners were to
blame for failing to report attacks to flag states, noting
that there had been 21 attacks on Hong Kong owned ships in 4
months and 19 on Singapore owned ships, yet only 2 had been
reported to the flag state. He advised that the Liberian
government responded with diplomatic action. Captain Da
Costa (IMO) said that there had only been 12 reports of
attacks in 7 years to IMO. This was queried as it was known
that many more attacks had taken place.
12. Captain Brown said that European shipowners respond well in
reporting incidents, but that IMO refused to develop any
information reporting systems.
Shipowners were in
difficulty because they did not know to whom reports should
be
of attackɔ in SE Asian
walers.
and
13. Royal Malaysian Police suggested that ships should proceed
to the nearest port following an attack in order to report
allow police to gather evidence and intelligence.
Shipping industry representatives pointed out that this was
impracticable for a number of reasons.
Some ships, especially oil and gas tankers may not be able to enter the
nearest port safety, and this could constitute a deviation