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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has detained a large oil tanker that collided with another vessel off its coast and fled the scene, the Malaysian Coast Guard said on Sunday (July 21).
The coast guard said in a statement that two days ago, the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I collided with the Singapore-flagged tanker Hafnia Nile, causing fires on both vessels.
It added that Ceres-1 then illegally left the collision site and shut down its tracking system.
Malaysian authorities immediately launched sea and air search and rescue operations.
“Malaysia has successfully located and detained the Ceres 1 and the two tugboats towing it off the country’s east coast,” Malaysian Coast Guard search and rescue commander Zin Azman Mohamad Yunus said in a statement.
He did not say why the Ceres escaped, but said further investigation would be carried out.
Singapore authorities said on Friday that all 36 crew members on both ships were rescued, but 26 crew members remained on the Ceres I to fight the fire.
Meanwhile, an aerial survey by the Malaysian Coast Guard found an oil spill covering 5 square nautical miles (17 square kilometres) at the collision site.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a press release on Friday that the two tankers were also within Singapore’s maritime search and rescue area, about 55 kilometers northeast of Pulau Pedra, when the collision occurred.
White Rock Island is located near the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait, about 44 kilometers east of Singapore Island.
After the collision, the Singapore military dispatched a naval vessel and a helicopter to assist in the evacuation operation.
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