Tanker last seen in Java Sea still missing over a month later

Image: MarineTraffic.com/nico yonathan
Image: MarineTraffic.com/nico yonathan – Namse Bangdzod in 2015

The fate of an Indonesian-flagged product tanker that left the Port of Sampit on December 27, 2018 remains unknown more than one month after it was reported as having disappeared.

Both government-owned and commercial vessels continue to comb the Java Sea in the hope of finding any trace of Namse Bangdzod, which was declared missing by Indonesian maritime authorities one day after it left Sampit.

The ship was carrying crude palm oil from Sampit and was expected to arrive in Jakarta following a one-day journey.

Namse Bangdzod never reached Jakarta. Furthermore, the Sampit Port Authority has stated that it lost contact with the ship on December 28 as it entered the waters of Ujung Karawang in West Java.

The country’s Basarnas search and rescue (SAR) agency believes Namse Bangdzod has been hijacked. The Indonesian Navy, however, has stated that a hijacking is unlikely as the route the vessel took has no history of incidents involving pirates.


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