The Indonesia-flagged,
200-lane-metre Serasi I (built 1990) suffered a hull breach in a collision with
Temas Line’s 3,250-dwt general cargo ship Batanghari Mas (built 2010) early on
Thursday in the Bangka Strait, search and rescue (SAR) officials reported.
The Japanese-built, 6,700-gt
vessel was flooded with seawater.The master had originally told SAR agencies
that he intended to ground the 501-ceu car carrier, but was soon forced to
order an evacuation.The accident was initially blamed on bad weather.A rescue
operation was launched with the Muntok SAR standby unit, the national SAR
agency Basarnas, the navy and the police.
The 17 crew members took to
life rafts and were later picked up by another passing ship.They were later
brought to the port of Tanjung Kalian in the town of Muntok.
The ship was servicing the
Patimban to Belawan route when the accident occurred.It was not clear how much
cargo was on board. Operating for the owner since 2007The Serasi I has been
operated by Toyofuji Serasi Indonesia since 2007. The company is part of
Japan’s Toyofuji Shipping, according to UK shipbroker Clarksons. There had been
no AIS update from the ship since 6 November.Newspapers published a list of the
crew members, including Captain Subur, chief officer M Aksa and second officer
Wahyudi.The car carrier is classed by Japan’s Nippon Kaiji Kyokai.VesselsValue
assesses the ship as worth $6.24m.
SOURCE: tradewindsnews.com/casualties
1 December 2022