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Nine crew believed trapped in tanker

Nine remaining crew members of a stricken oil-product tanker were missing and may be trapped after a collision with a bulk carrier in the Strait of Malacca, a Malaysian official said. A fire on the vessel was put out.

Thick smoke may have prevented the crew leaving the Formosaproduct Brick (立善輪), a 70,000-deadweight tonne Liberian-flagged vessel loaded with naphtha, said Faridah Shuib, a spokeswoman for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

“The fire has been put out,” Faridah said in a mobile phone text message yesterday. “The rescue team is having a meeting, discussing ways and possibility of searching for the nine missing victims.”

The maritime agency on Wednesday deployed seven boats to the scene, off the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, to help with the rescue after the collision two days ago.

The ship, owned by Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Marine Corp (台塑海運), cannot be towed to port because of the risk to other vessels, Faridah said.

Sixteen crew, including the captain, were rescued by a passing container ship about 20 nautical miles (37km) off Port Dickson, Malaysian state news service Bernama said. The last person to leave the vessel could not see anyone on board or leaping from the decks, Faridah said.

Naphtha is a light oil product usually used as petrochemical feedstock.
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