Up in smokes: Thick smoke seen billowing out from ‘MT Hafnia Nile’ in Tanjung Balau waters near Kota Tinggi.
KOTA TINGGI: Two vessels have collided in Tanjung Balau waters near here, triggering a search and rescue mission.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency acting director-general Vice-Admiral Datuk Saiful Lizan Ibrahim said the incident took place at 6.55am yesterday.
“The vessels MT Hafnia Nile and MT Ceres 1 collided at 25 nautical miles (46.3km) northeast of Tanjung Balau.
“A search and rescue mission was activated to look for the missing crewmen involved in the collision,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Dangerous situation: ‘MT Ceres 1’ seen caught on fire after it collided with ‘MT Hafnia Nile’.
Assets such as rescue boats and patrolling units from the navy and marine police were also deployed to the area.
The teams reached the collision site at 9.50am.
The Department of Environment had been notified to take action in the event of an oil spill.
The Abu Bakar maritime base was also ordered to monitor the area as a precautionary measure.
