Indonesian navy locates, escorting tanker taken by crew

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) – Indonesia’s navy confirmed Thursday that it had located an oil tanker that went missing from Malaysian waters last week following an “internal management dispute” and was escorting it to a port in Indonesia’s Riau Islands.

Navy spokesman First Admiral Edi Sucipto said the Western Fleet Quick Response (WFQR) discovered the Indonesian-flagged MT Vier Harmoni in waters off West Kalimantan province on Borneo island Wednesday.

"The hunt was conducted non-stop by WFQR team, [which] finally managed to find MT Vier Harmoni was sailing in West Kalimantan waters," he was quoted as saying by detik.com.

Malaysian authorities had initially suspected a hijacking after the vessel sailed off from Kuantan port Aug. 16 carrying 900,000 liters of diesel worth 1.57 million rupiah ($391,500).

Authorities from the neighboring archipelagoes, however, later said the ship was not hijacked in Malaysian waters -- where incidents of piracy and kidnappings have occurred -- but was taken by its Indonesian crew to Batam island.

The incident followed “internal management problems” among the company of the vessel, whose crew reportedly turned off its tracking system.

Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir had earlier described the issue as an “internal conflict between the management and the crew" and “not between Indonesia and Malaysia”, according to kompas.com.