One of the world’s busiest commercial waterways has observed a rise in piracy over recent years.

The “petty crime” incidents took place between Aug 8 and Aug 9, when the vessels were in the Phillip Channel in the Singapore Strait, declared the Information Fusion Centre, a regional facility that the Navy of Singapore hosts.

One of the vessels was flagged to Cyprus, whereas the other two flew the flags of Liberia, the centre mentioned in its statement.

Fifty such incidents were recorded spanning from India to South Korea and Indonesia since 23 January, the centre mentioned, urging the vessels in the vicinity to exercise more caution.

Most of these incidents revolved around bulk carriers and tugs and barges with low freeboard coupled with slow speed while they were underway, and the incidents took place in the hours of darkness.