KUALA LUMPUR: The Marine Department has detained the MT Hafnia Nile and MT Ceres 1 which were involved in a collision off Tanjung Balau, Johor on July 19 to assist investigations.
Its director-general Captain Mohamad Halim Ahmed said both vessels were detained under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952.
He said the MT Ceres 1, which was found in Pulau Tioman did not escape but had its anchor chain broken, causing it to drift away. This also caused its navigational equipment to become faulty.
He said the Marine Department received a report of the collision occuring 25 nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Balau between the Singapore-registered MT Hafnia and the Sao Tome & Principe-registered MT Ceres 1 at 9am on July 19.
"The MT Ceres 1 is chemical/oil products tanker without cargo which was sailing to Lanshan, China. The MT Hafnia Nile is an oil products tanker carrying naphtha (a highly flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture) heading towards Kashima, Japan.
"Initial investigations show that the Ceres 1 with 26 crew members was anchored due to a technical problem it faced," Halim told a press conferecne at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here today.
He said MT Hafnia Nile, which carried 22 crew members was moving and it attempted to avoid the MT Ceres 1 but failed. This led to the MT Hafnia Nilel's port side colliding with the MT Ceres 1's starboard bulbos bow, he said.
"Due to the collision, a fire occured on both ships and the Ceres 1's anchor snapped and it led to it drifting away.
"All 22 crew on board the Hafnia Nile were rescued by the RSS Supreme owned by the Republic of Singapore Navy and were treated in a public hospital in Singapore," he said.
He said Hafnia Nile's owner via Resolve Salvage & Fire Asia Pte Ltd appointed Straits Salvage Engineers (M) Sdn Bhd to conduct salvaging works.
"Initial investigations also showed there were no oil spills traced from both vessels.
"The cost of damages of both vessels has not been ascertained," said Halim.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) launched a search and rescue operation on July 19 off Johor waters following the collision between the two oil tankers.