PUTRAJAYA: A "ghost ship' – or a ship without a crew – reported to be drifting in Vietnamese waters and at risk of potentially hitting a Petronas oil rig in Terengganu waters on Monday, has been towed to a safe location.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency director-general Admiral Datuk Mohd Zubil Mat Som said the agency received a report from an Indonesian shipping company that a ship belonging to Limin Rosmina had lost its tow rope while towing the Winposh Rampart ship without a crew at about 3.15pm on Monday.
He said the two ships involved were in Vietnamese waters at a position about 120 nautical miles from Kuala Terengganu, while en route from Matak (Indonesia) to Yang Pu (China).
He said in a statement on Tuesday that the tow rope snapped due to bad weather and Winposh Rampart then drifted into Malaysian waters.
"The risk assessment analysis found that the Winposh Rampart ship could potentially collide with Petronas's Telok A oil rig and cause it to explode and trigger a life-threatening incident if no swift measures were taken to deal with it," he said.
In this regard, said Zubil, MMEA had coordinated assistance with Petronas to tow the Winposh Rampart ship to a safer location.
The assets involved in the operation were the MMEA's KM Jujur and AW139 aircraft with six members of the MMEA Special Action Team which were mobilised to the location of the ghost ship, while Petronas sent Icon Lotus and SK Pilot ships, he said.
He said the MMEA Special Action Team then synchronised operations with the AW139 aircraft to analyse the crisis and identify ways to stop the ship from drifting.
Zubil said Special Action Team members were lowered from the AW139 aircraft aboard the Winposh Rampart around 3.30pm on Tuesday to execute the process for the ship to be towed by the Icon Lotus.
According to him, Winposh Rampart is now being towed by Icon Lotus to Kemaman Supply Base in Terengganu, a journey expected to take almost 65 hours. – Bernama