KUALA LUMPUR: The Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry (NRES) has carried out continuous monitoring of the vessel 'Atosa 01' that has drifted from the Kemaman port area at Chendor Beach, Kuantan on Jan 30 until today and found that no pollution has occurred.
Its minister, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the ship drifted about 15 metres away as a result of the ship's anchor line breaking due to the bad weather that occurred on Jan 24 in the Kemaman waters.
He said his team, through the Department of Environment (DOE), received information related to this matter from the Kemaman Marine Office at 10 am on Tuesday.
"The vessel is a dry cargo ship registered in Freetown, Sierra Leone. At the time of the incident, there was no cargo or load onboard but there was still approximately 18 tonnes of diesel that could potentially cause an oil spill.
"Three crewmen, who were still onboard when the incident happened, saved themselves by jumping into the sea," he said in a statement.
Elaborating further, Nik Nazmi said the status of the vessel is under the custody of the Eastern Region Marine Department through the Order of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Oct 25, 2023.
Therefore, the DOE has asked the Malaysian Marine Department to tow the ship to the Kemaman port area and to install oil booms as a measure to control oil pollution in the event of oil spills.
The DOE calls on the public to report any activities of polluting the environment by calling the 24-hour toll-free line at 1-800-88-2727 or emailing aduan_k@doe.gov.my via the DOE e-complaint portal at https:// eaduan.doe.gov.my.
– BERNAMA