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Sunday, August 9, 2015

Oil tanker found in Indonesian waters, cargo missing

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency deputy director-general Datuk Ahmad Puzi Abd Kahar shows a picture of MT Joaquim during a press conference in Putrajaya today. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, August 9, 2015.Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency deputy director-general Datuk Ahmad Puzi Abd Kahar shows a picture of MT Joaquim during a press conference in Putrajaya today. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Kamal Ariffin, August 9, 2015.
Oil tanker MT Joaquim, which was reported missing after it was hijacked from Selangor waters last night, has been found near Pulau Rupat in Indonesia at 8.55am this morning.
The tanker, carrying 3,500 metric tonnes of marine fuel oil (MFO) worth RM2.8 million (US$700,000) was reported to have lost contact with the port authority at 9.30pm yesterday.
The ship's last location was reported at 1.50pm about 21.9 nautical miles west of Port Dickson.
MT Orkim Harmony was subsequently abandoned by the pirates with the 22 crew unharmed. The pirates were later seized in Vietnamese waters.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) deputy director-general (operations) Maritime Admiral Datuk Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar said MT Jaoquim was registered in Singapore and had left Tanjung Pinang Port in Indonesia on the night of August 7 with 3,500 tonne metrics of MFO.
After it went missing on Saturday night, the Malaysian search and rescue team was immediately deployed and later spotted the vessel this morning in Indonesian waters.
Ahmad Puzi said that although all 10 crew members of the vessel were safe, the entire consignment had been stolen.
"Two of the crew, including the captain, sustained minor injuries and have been airlifted to the nearest location for treatment," he said.
He said the authorities believed that more than 10 people were involved in the robbery and hijacking of the ship.
"We do not know who are behind the robbery yet but looking at how things developed we suspected that more than 10 people were involved in the case," said Ahmad Puzi.
He said the investigation will be handled by Singapore authorities as the ship and consignment belonged to a Singaporean company.
He said this is the eighth such hijacking case occurring in Malaysian waters since January, the first in the Malacca Strait.
In this MT Joaquim case, Ahmad Puzi said initial investigation showed the vessel's Automatic Identification System (AIS) had not been transmitting any signal since August 6 and the authorities are investigating whether the AIS has been deliberately switched off or had malfunctioned.
"If it was switched off then the next question would be who switched it off. These are among the questions that need answers as we investigate how the robbers orchestrated their plan in robbing MT Joaquim of its consignment," Ahmad Puzi said.
He said that in most cases, there was a high possibility of the hijacking being an inside job.
"The people behind the robbery most of the time know what is the consignment being carried, how to unload it, what type of ship they need to use and the manpower resources needed. They would even have ready buyers for such shipment," said Ahmad Puzi.
He added that at the moment MT Joaquim cannot proceed to the next port as some of its machinery is not functioning.
"The ship needs to be fixed. Only then will it be towed or ushered to a port in Singapore for further investigation. At the moment the owners are still trying to get a clearance from the Indonesian authority to allow it to remain there until the ship is fixed," said Ahmad Puzi.
He said the ship was found in 10 hours due to the quick response and cooperation between the Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia authorities.
"Everyone pulled their resources together to find the missing MT Joaquim," he said.
- TMI

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