TB.BRAHMA 12

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Kidnapped crew released

Abu Sayyaf bandits have freed 10 Indonesian crew members of the "Brahma 12" who were seized on Mar 28 in the first of three attacks on tugboats that have sparked a regional maritime security alarm. The Indonesians appeared to be in good health when they were dropped off in the afternoon of May 1 in front of the house of Sulu province’s governor in the town of Jolo. They were then brought to a Philippine military camp and arrangements were underway to turn them over to Indonesian officials. The "Brahma 12" was underway with the barge "Anand 12", which was carrying 7,000 tons of coal, en route from Puting river in Banjarmasin in Indonesia’s South Kalimantan province to Batangas in the Philippines, when the kidnapping happened. The government was continuing to work for the release of four other Indonesians who were taken hostage by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants in a separate incident in Apri. A rebel commander from the Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the Philippine government, helped negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf for the release of the 10 Indonesians. The hostages were escorted down from a jungle encampment in Sulu and left outside the home of the governor, Abdusakur Tan II. Report with photo: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2016/05/02/abu-sayyaf-frees-10-indonesian-hostages-471060

Ransom to be paid to kidnappers

he company of the "Brahma 12" has agreed to pay a ransom of 50 million pesos (US$1.1m), to Abu Sayyaf on Apr 19. Negotiations for the handover of the money and the captives were still ongoing. 10 crew members of the tug were kidnapped in waters off the southern Philippines by Abu Sayyaf militants on Mar 29 while pulling a barge from Borneo island to the Philippines. The vessels' owners received a ransom call from someone claiming to be from the Abu Sayyaf militant group

Barge towed by hijacked tug found and recovered

The barge "Anad 12" that was towed by the "Brahma 12" from which 10 Indonesians were kidnapped in the Philippines on Mar 26, was found in waters off Tungku in Lahad Datu. The "Anad 12" was recovered on Apr 2 at 1.0 5p.m. She was carrying 7,000 tonnes of coal from Kalimantan to the southern Philippines. The barge might have been carried by the current from the Alice Reef near Tawi-Tawi into Malaysian waters. Two MMEA assets as well as the marine police’s "PA 47" were dispatched to waters off Tungku after receiving information about the barge about 10.30 a.m. The barge was found about 8,4 nautical miles northeast from the Tun Sharifah Rodziah Platform, and about 13,7 nautical miles southeast of Tungku. It has been towed by a chartered tug to the Fordeco Jetty in Lahad Datu. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Abu Sayyaf has demanded a ransom for the release of the 10 crew members of the "Brahma 12". Report with photo: http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/04/137124/barge-10-indonesians-hijacked-tugboat-found-mmea