The Indonesian navy on Thursday (December 17) conducted a search and rescue for the missing crew members of a vessel that sunk off Indonesia.
Six crew members are still missing after a general cargo freighter sank in the Singapore Strait following a collision with a chemical tanker at 8:14 p.m. (7.14 a.m. ET) on Wednesday (December 16).
The 10,385 deadweight tonne (dwt) cargo freighter Thorco Cloud, operated by Danish shipper Thorco Shipping and registered in Antigua and Barbuda, had a crew of 12.
“So from all 12 crew on board, there were six crew that have been rescued by the tanker that it collided with which is “Stolt Commitment”, and they were brought to a Singapore hospital,” a navy commander, Eko Suyatno said in an interview with media on the navy ship.
“The other six crew members that remain missing, the search and rescue operations started last night up until now,” he added.
The incident, which took place in Indonesian waters six nautical miles northwest of Batam, left the Cayman Islands-registered chemical tanker Stolt Commitment with minor damage and in stable condition, said Singapore Maritime and Port Authority (MPA).
The 37,438 dwt tanker is owned by Stolt Tankers, part of Norwegian bulk liquid transportation and storage company Stolt-Nielsen Ltd.
The sunken cargo freighter was carrying 560 metric tonnes of bunker fuel.
Some oil was seen floating on the water surface near the sinking freighter.
The Singapore Strait, one of the world’s busiest commercial shipping routes, is a 105-km long, 16-km wide passage between the Strait of Malacca to the South China Sea. (Reuters)
