China holds 12 Indonesians in tanker hijacking
China holds 12 Indonesians in tanker hijacking
BEIJING, China (Reuters): Police in China's Hainan island have detained 12 Indonesians on suspicion of hijacking a Malaysian- flagged oil tanker and sailing it into Chinese waters to smuggle its cargo, a Hainan official said yesterday.
They face charges of piracy, smuggling and illegal entry, said the official, who declined to be identified.
He said the vessel, Petro Ranger, and its 21-member crew, including the Australian master, Kenneth Blyth, were safe in the port of Haikou, capital of the southern island province.
"The Petro Ranger is under Chinese protection and not detention," the official said. "Crew members are free to move around. They went shopping today."
Blyth and his crew were being treated as victims of maritime piracy and there was no suggestion they were involved in any way in illegal activities, the official said.
The 12,357-ton vessel was reported missing by its agent, Singapore Petroships Pte Ltd, one day after setting sail from Singapore on April 16 bound for Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam.
It was carrying 10,000 tons of diesel and kerosene worth US$1.5 million.
The Hainan provincial government official said the Indonesians were armed with daggers when they boarded the tanker in international waters in the South China Sea off the coast of Malaysia and Vietnam.
The raiders smashed the ship's communications equipment, he said.
Chinese maritime police intercepted the vessel in Chinese waters on April 26 on suspicion of smuggling and escorted it to Haikou.
The Hainan official was unable to give details of what transpired on board the vessel after communication was lost. It was unclear whether there was a struggle between the raiders and the crew that included Malaysians, Indonesians and Bangladeshis.
It was also unclear whether any Chinese nationals had been detained.
The raiders transferred diesel and kerosene from the Petro Ranger to a Chinese-registered vessel in Chinese waters, the official quoted Blyth as saying.
"This is smuggling," the official said.
He said Blyth was first interviewed by Chinese authorities on May 1.
China was offering help to repair the vessel's communications equipment so it could leave Haikou, he said.
Despite an international search effort by Malaysian, Philippine and Australian authorities and a $50,000 reward for information, the tanker's whereabouts remained a mystery until a telephone call to the Singapore agent last Friday from Chinese authorities.
Malaysian officials said earlier the Petro Ranger's disappearance was the first major suspected hijacking in the South China Sea near Malaysian waters this year.