The brutal killing of Chinese sailors on the Mekong River reminds us of the urgency of stepping up security measures in an area plagued by drug trafficking and cross-border crime.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that 12 Chinese sailors were killed and one remains missing after two cargo ships on the Mekong were attacked and hijacked by an unknown group of armed men on Oct 5.

According to Monday's Bangkok Post, Thai river police seized both boats after a gun battle with the hijackers and found cargo including 900,000 pills of methamphetamine, an illegal stimulant, this suggests that the Chinese sailors could be victims of an assault by drug traffickers looking to use the boats to transport the drug.

The magnitude of the atrocity has aroused public fury in China. How the countries concerned deal with the aftermath of the incident will continue to be in the media spotlight.

China has asked Thailand to make every effort to investigate the incident and keep China informed of the progress and the Thai authorities have launched an investigation by the police, army and government into the killings.

China has also asked Myanmar and Laos to investigate.

The countries concerned should respond with quick action and make concrete efforts to ensure the safety of Chinese cargo ships and sailors on the Mekong so that a similar tragedy does not happen again.

In the meantime, as a precaution, Yunnan province, which is where one of the boats came from, has ordered Chinese passenger and cargo vessels to suspend trips along the Mekong.

Known in China as the Lancang River, the Mekong is the biggest transnational water body in Asia and flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea. The river holds a strategic and economic role among the Greater Mekong Sub-region countries.

Unfortunately, the Golden Triangle region, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, is also notorious for the production and trafficking of heroin and other illicit drugs. It has been a haven to drug rings and armed robbers and kidnappers for years.

In recent years, China has played an active role in forging sub-regional cooperation to crack down on drug producing and trafficking in the area. Since the 1990s, Yunnan province has helped plant some 2667 hectares of cash crops in the region as a substitute for opium poppies.

The tragic event should be taken as a clarion call for forming a transnational security mechanism at sub-regional level so that drug trafficking and other organized crimes can be rigorously eradicated in the area and personnel and cargo safety along the Mekong can be guaranteed.