Two ships encountered distress around Singapore waters over the weekend. In the first incident, a Vietnamese general cargo ship, Dolphin 18, capsized 274 nautical miles off Vung Tau, Vietnam on 11 January.
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said that around 7am local time, it was informed by Maersk Line’s container ship, Nicolai Maersk, that the Dolphin 18 had sent a distress call.
Vessel-tracking data shows that Dolphin 18, a 1999-built 7,950 dwt ship owned by Vinh Son Trading & Transport, was sailing from Papua New Guinea to Southeast Asia. MPA’s operated Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre coordinated the search and rescue, and issued navigational broadcasts for vessels in the area to keep a lookout and report sightings of Dolphin 18.
Nicolai Maersk, which was underway in the Malacca Straits, arrived at the scene and rescued all of Dolphin 18’s 18 Vietnamese crew members, who had all evacuated on life rafts.
“All rescued crew were found to be in healthy condition,” said MPA. MRCC is issuing a navigational broadcast for passing ships to navigate with caution in the area.
The 2,240 TEU Nicolai Maersk, which operates an intra-Asia service disembarked the crewmen after arriving in Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia the same day.
The following day, a 1987-built 1,187 dwt products tanker, Silver Sincere, sank in Singapore waters off Pedra Branca.
MPA said it was alerted to a distress call at about 3.40pm local time from the Silver Sincere that the vessel had suffered water ingress.
The authority said: “As part of the search and rescue efforts, MPA had also deployed its craft, together with craft from the Republic of Singapore Navy, and the Singapore Police Coast Guard. The search and rescue phase coordinated by MPA has been completed. All crew are in healthy condition and will be disembarked at Batu Ampar, Indonesia
MPA said that salvage tugs have been deployed to recover the Silver Sincere, which is owned by a Malaysian company, CCK Capital. Oil spill response craft has also been activated as a precaution.
The authority is broadcasting a navigational safety advisory for passing vessels to stay clear of the incident site, but stresses that navigational traffic in the Singapore Strait is unperturbed.
Alison Koo
Asia Correspondent
