Missing S'pore ship believed hijacked

Missing S'pore ship believed hijacked

SINGAPORE (DPA): Piracy is suspected in the disappearance of a missing Singapore-flagged ship in the South China Sea, a news report in the island republic said yesterday.

An agent for the Petro Ranger, an Australian-owned tanker carrying some 11,000 tons of diesel oil and kerosene, said he suspected the ship had been hijacked, according to the Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) report.

"We last received a telex from her on April 17 at noon," TCS quoted an official from Singapore shipping agent Petroships Private Limited as saying.

"Right now we have no clue where the vessel is or of the safety of the crew and tanker," the official said.

The ship's crew of 21 includes seven Malaysians, six Indonesians, a Ghanian and a Myanmar national.

The ship was on its way to Vietnam with a cargo estimated to be worth some 1.5 million dollars and owned by Vietnamese company Petec Trading and Investment.