KUALA LUMPUR (DPA) – A tanker carrying 6,000 metric tons of high-grade petrol has gone missing in Malaysian waters, a senior official said Sunday.
The vessel went missing Thursday while sailing off Tanjung Sedili town in the state of Johor, about 300 kilometres south of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency first admiral Ibrahim Mohamed said.
He said search teams were looking for the vessel and 22 crew that had been en route from the state of Malacca to Pahang state, and has 22 crew members on board.
Earlier this month, armed pirates hijacked a tanker in eastern Malaysia, siphoned off oil and robbed the crew before fleeing, according to the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre.
The Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Centre said one tanker is hijacked by pirates in South-East Asian waters every two weeks, adding that the region accounted for 55 per cent of global piracy incidents in the first quarter of 2015.
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