What Happened to Malaysian Marine Tanker?
Malaysian and Indonesian maritime authorities were searching for a fuel tanker with 10 crew members on board that has disappeared in an apparent hijacking.
According to a Reuters report, the oil tanker carrying 900,000 litres of diesel has been hijacked and taken into Indonesian waters, Malaysian maritime authorities said.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said in a statement that the ship, Vier Harmoni, has been located in the waters off Batam, Indonesia. The MMEA said they have yet to confirm the identity of the hijackers.
But, according to Indonesian Navy, the oil tanker, believed hijacked in Malaysia, has been taken back to Indonesia by its crew following a commercial dispute.
"The preliminary assessment is the vessel was not hijacked but was taken by the crew back to Batam," the Indonesian Navy said in a statement referring to the island near Singapore.
The fact is: MT Vier Harmoni, carrying 900,000 litres of diesel, went missing after leaving the Tanjung Pelepas port on the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia on Tuesday before it was relocated in the waters off Batam, Indonesia.
But media reports provided different viewpoints.
Later the MMEA director Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar said "the initial investigation showed that the ship was rushed because of internal problem," adding that further investigations regarding the incident were underway.
The incident is "linked closely to internal problems between the [Indonesian] owner, the [Malaysian] charterer and the [Indonesian] crew," said Mohamad Taha Ibrahim of the MMEA.
