2010-08-10 11:28

A Chinese oil tanker en route from Saudi Arabia to South Korea successfully drove off four suspected pirate vessels with water cannons in the south Red Sea on Aug 5, Beijing Times reported Tuesday.

The newspaper cited Monday's notice from the China Maritime Search and Rescue Centre as saying all 23 crew members on board were safe.

The tanker, belonging to China Shipping Development Co, made distress calls to the China Maritime Search and Rescue Centre immediately after crews noticed four suspected pirate vessels driving fast toward it from 3 nautical miles behind them.

While waiting for help, the crew changed the tanker's course from time to time, used water cannons and was able to stop them from boarding.

After failed attempts to get close to the Chinese tanker, the vessels changed course and turned to a nearby foreign tanker, but failed to hijack it.