JOHOR BARU, May 2 — The authorities have not ruled out the possibility that MT Pablo’s three missing crew members survived the fire that broke out on board yesterday and remain inside the vessel adrift in waters off Tanjung Sedili in Kota Tinggi.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) acting director-general Maritime Vice-Admiral Datuk Saiful Lizan Ibrahim said the search and rescue (SAR) operation failed determine the whereabouts of the three men since commencing yesterday.
He said the SAR operation has also been expanded up to 71 square nautical miles from the location of the incident.
“The three crew members who are still missing have been identified as two Indian nationals, Satyam Tripathi, 26, and Dinesh Kumar Chauchan, 34, as well as Ukrainian Sabit Shenderovsky, 37.
“There is a possibility that the three crew members remain on board the vessel,” he said during a press conference at the Johor MMEA headquarters here today.
Also present was Johor MMEA director Maritime First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria.
Saiful Lizan was commenting on yesterday’s incident where 25 out of 28 crew members were found safe after the fire broke out. Three others were unaccounted for and feared to have drowned at sea.
He said, however, that there was a possibility they had survived the incident if they were able to escape the blaze, which occurred in the midship section.
“There might be an enclosed space that is airtight so that the area is not affected. However, the amount of oxygen supply depends on the size of the room. They might be able to last a day or more,” he said.
Saiful Lizan said that the SAR team has not been able to board the tanker for checks due to the dangerous situation and thick smoke.
“The fire that destroyed about 50 per cent of the tanker’s midship has been extinguished and the vessel is still afloat.
“Checks carried out found that there have been no reported oil spills around the incident site.
“The Hazardous Materials Unit (Hazmat) will arrive at the location of the tanker tomorrow morning to carry out further inspections on the vessel, in addition to identifying the cause of the fire,” he said.
In a related development, Saiful Lizan said MMEA had also requested the assistance of other agencies including the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and the Marine Department, in addition to the Johor Port and Pasir Gudang Port, to assist it in locating the three missing crew members.
“Among the assets used in the operation are the AW139 aircraft belonging to MMEA and the KD Pendekar ship (TLDM), while the Southern Region Marine Department in addition to the Pasir Gudang Port have mobilised their tugboats as well.
“A total of 136 officers and personnel are involved in this SAR operation,” he said.
Yesterday, three crew members were reported missing and feared drowned during the tanker’s fire at 37.5 nautical miles northeast of Tanjung Sedili here yesterday.
Nurul Hizam was reported to have said that an emergency distress call was received at 4pm from a Gabon- registered tanker that was en route to Singapore from China with a total of 28 crew on board.
