The Vanuatu-flagged cable ship ‘Star Centurion’ capsized following collision with the Hong Kong-flagged tanker ‘Antea’ on Sunday, in the Indonesian waters of the Singapore Straits, authorities informed on Monday.
The collision took place just north of Bintan, an Indonesian island in the Riau Islands province that sits opposite Singapore.
The undersea cable and pipe-laying ship was anchored in the Horsburgh OPL zone for bunkering, on the eastern edge of the Singapore Straits, and the Pertamina-owned oil product tanker was steaming past it, when the incident occurred, Reuters reported.
According to the latest update provided by Reuters, Star Centurion is capsized but has not sunk completely.
Singaporean forces rescued an estimated 20 crew members from the sinking vessel, which was designed for undersea pipeline work. There were no fatalities or injuries.
The Antea sustained damage to its hull.
The risk of collisions is a key area of concern in Singapore Straits as the region claims the title of one of the world’s busiest shipping zones with hundreds of container ships, oil and fuel tankers and dry bulk carriers daily traversing the waters that connect east Asia to Europe, India and Africa.
