The saga of the MT Orkim Harmony is quickly coming to an end, a little over a week after it disappeared off the coast of Johor last Thursday.
The oil tanker, which was carrying 22 crew members and 7.5 million litres of RON95 petrol valued at RM21 million, has been abandoned by the pirates who commandeered (and sloppily renamed) it.
Bernama reports the eight pirates on board the ship had changed course towards Indonesia’s Natuna Island last night in an effort to avoid arrest. They also asked the Royal Malaysian Navy for a boat in which to leave the area once they arrived in Natuna.
Abandoning the ship’s cargo of petrol and its crew members, the pirates fled in a rescue boat at around 2am.
According to the The Malaysian Insider, the Orkim Harmony’s 22 crew members were all rescued and acounted for, with onlyone of them having sustained light injuries from the ordeal.
“One of the crew is slightly injured and he will be sent to a hospital in Kuantan or Terengganu for treatment,” Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) deputy director-general (operations) Ahmad Puzi Abdul Kahar told Bernama today.
The ship and its crew are now on their way to Kuantan port, where the Orkim Harmony is scheduled to arive by 6pm at the earliest.
The Orkim Harmony hijacking is the fifth such case to be reported in Malaysian waters this year.
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