Coast Guard monitors tanker

A Coast Guard cutter was continuing to monitor a tugboat towing a Panamanian-registered oil tanker yesterday near Pingtung. The tanker is being taken to Hong Kong for repairs. The oil tanker, Orpheus Asia, was carrying 248,000 tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to Chiba, Japan, when it developed mechanical failure southeast of Orchid Island and began drifting on Thursday. Coast Guard officials said that the Japanese company that owns the ship, Idemitsu, sent a tugboat which arrived at the scene off the coast of Taitung on Saturday to tow the crippled oil tanker to Hong Kong for repairs.