Nine Chinese crew members of Liberian-registered tanker MT Formosa Product Brick, which caught fire after a collision with a bulk carrier in the Malacca Straits, of Malaysia on Tuesday night, are still missing.
- Search and rescue teams in helicopters, speedboats and fixed-wing aircraft failed to locate the crew despite spending hours scouring the accident site some 20 nautical miles off Kuala Lukut near here.
- Fifteen of the 25-member crew were plucked from their dinghy by a German container ship Nordspring which was in the area at the time of the accident, and handed over to Malaysian authorities.
- Five of the saved crew members, including the captain Jiang Han Cheng, were brought to the Marine Department jetty in a Maritime Malaysia Enforcement Agency (MMEA) boat at about 2.30am yesterday.
- Ten others arrived in a separate boat 15 minutes later followed by a sixteenth survivor who was found floating at sea by Fire and Rescue Department officers.
- Thirteen of them received outpatient treatment at the district hospital while the captain and two others were warded with minor injuries.
- Chinese embassy officials later made arrangements for the 13 to stay at a hotel here.
- The vessel was sailing south towards Singapore from the United Arab Emirates when the bulk carrier MV Ostende Max ploughed into the left section of its rear at about 8.50pm.
- It is understood that the MT Formosa is owned by a Taiwanese while the other vessel was Greek-owned and registered in the Isle of Man.
- The MV Ostende, which was laden with coal, was also heading for Singapore when the mishap happened.
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