Two oil tankers are ablaze off Singapore, rescue underway
Vessels are on fire near the small island of Pedra Branca
Singapore: Two oil tankers have been on fire since early Friday morning to the east of Singapore, according to a statement from the country's Maritime and Port Authority.
Hafnia Nile, a Singapore-flagged refined-products tanker, and Ceres I, a crude oil tanker sailing under the flag of Sao Tome & Principe, are 55km (34 miles) northeast of the tiny island of Pedra Branca, at the eastern entrance to the Strait of Singapore.
It wasn't immediately clear what caused the fire, though the aging Ceres I in particular underlines the environmental and human risks that come with the expansion of a so-called dark fleet of older vessels moving sanctioned crude through one of the world's busiest waterways. Ship-to-ship transfers of oil are relatively common occurrences in the waters off the southern part of the Malaysian peninsula.
Ceres I hauled cargoes from Iran and Venezuela earlier this year and last year, according to data from market intelligence firm Kpler. It was built in 2001, meaning it's still in use well beyond when most owners would consider scrapping a vessel and its P&I insurer is unknown, a characteristic common to almost all dark fleet ships, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Singapore's maritime authority has asked for help from passing craft in the search and rescue of the crews. A navy ship, the RSS Supreme, is nearby and is also providing assistance, along with a Singapore military helicopter, it said.
Dark fleet vessels have caused problems for Singapore before. A shadow-fleet oil tanker ran aground near Singapore in December, and earlier last year a ship called the Pablo exploded near Malaysia. Its burning wreckage sat for months off the country's coastline.