KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said on Friday that a vessel owned by a local company carrying about 3,700 ton of palm oil, which is worth about 18.5 million ringgit (4.5 million U.S. dollars), had been robbed in the waters off Indonesia.
The barge, Ever Omega, along with another tugboat Ever Prosper, was sailing from Bintulu in the eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak to Penang off the Malay Peninsula when it was robbed by a group of machete-wielding pirates on Wednesday, said the statement.
The six crew members on the barge and the four crew on the tugboat were tied up by the robbers, who took away the barge but left the tugboat behind. The crew on the tugboat later managed to free themselves and sailed the ship toward the water off Malaysia's southern Johor state, the statement said.
