Malaysia 's navy has foiled a pirate attack on a tanker off its east coast in the East Sea , the International Maritime Bureau said on June 15.

The Malaysian force was assisted by the Indonesian and Singaporean navies in fending off the attack on the evening of June 14. The pirates fled the Singapore-managed tanker after navy patrol boats arrived before they could loot the vessel.

An armed pirate surveys the Somali coastline/AFP

There has been a spate of pirate attacks recently in waters off Indonesia , Singapore and Malaysia .
The United Nations recently warned that Southeast Asia has become the world's piracy hotspot, after an international clampdown slashed the number of hijackings off the coast of Somalia .

The UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) reported that attacks in Southeast Asia reached 150 last year.

(Source: VNA)