A so-called "ghost ship" carrying no people and with no sign of recent human activity aboard has been found floating in Australian waters, customs officials said yesterday.
The 80m tanker was found drifting about 180km southwest of Weipa on the Gulf of Carpentaria in far northeastern Australia and appeared to have been unattended for at least a week, they said.
There were no signs that the vessel, the Jian Seng, had been used for illegal fishing or for smuggling people.
"Tellingly, it has a parted tow line dangling off the front," a customs spokesman said.
"Based on a search of the vessel by our boarding team, customs believes the vessel was under tow when it broke free and was subsequently abandoned," the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the boat had been identified as the Jian Seng through items found on board, but officials had been unable to discover in which country it was registered.
"We did find a large quantity of rice on board and we believe the vessel was possibly being used to resupply fishing boats with food and fuel in waters outside the Australian exclusive economic zone, and it has drifted to its current position," he said.
"It appears to have been adrift for some time before we boarded it," he added.
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