The coast guard said on Saturday that the Sao Tome and
Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I had left the location of the
collision that caused a fire and injured at least two crew members. The ship
was also believed to have turned off its tracking system, the coast guard said.
The Ceres I was found in Malaysian waters with two tugboats
towing it, the coast guard said in a statement on Sunday.
The Ceres I and the two tugboats have been detained by the
coast guard for further investigation, it added.
Meanwhile, aerial surveys conducted by the coast guard found
minor traces of an oil spill at the location of the collision between the Ceres
I and the Singapore-flagged Hafnia Nile, the coast guard said in the statement
on Sunday.
Iranian Petroleum Ministry confirmed on Saturday that
neither of the two oil tankers that collided off Singapore on Friday carried
Iranian crude.
“The crude oil of neither of these damaged oil tankers was
related to Iran and did not belong to Iran,” the ministry said in a statement
The
incident involving two large oil tankers occurred about 55 kilometers northeast
of Pedra Branca Island, on the eastern approach to the Singapore Straits. The
Singapore-flagged Hafnia Nile, carrying approximately 300,000 barrels of
naphtha, collided with the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) confirmed
that all 22 crew members on the Hafnia Nile and 40 crew members on the Ceres I
were accounted for. Two crew members were airlifted to a hospital, while others
were rescued from life rafts.
Shortly
after the collision, some Western media outlets spurred speculations about the
fuel Ceres I was carrying, alleging that the crude carrier had been
transferring 2 million barrels of Iranian oil to China.
