Reuter, Port Klang, Abdul Jalil Hamid, June 21
- Rescuers scoured a river mouth and seas off Malaysia's
Port Klang on Sunday after an explosion
aboard a chemical tanker left 13 people, mostly Indonesians,
dead or missing.
Seven Indonesians, a Singaporean and five Malaysians
were dead or missing and rescuers had retrieved four bodies, Transport
Minister Ling
Liong Sik said. He said the bodies of two Malaysians had been recovered.
Police sources said the other two bodies were those of
Indonesian crew members of the Singapore-registered Choon Hong III. The
ship was
still burning more than 15 hours after bursting into flames on Saturday
night.
Ling said rescuers feared 400 tonnes of xylene, a highly
flammable and toxic petrochemical, still inside the 997-tonne tanker
could be
discharged into the river mouth, endangering a village nearby.
"Things are improving but we are preparing for the worst
scenario. If the ship topples, the whole river could be burning," Ling
told reporters at the port, Malaysia's largest, which faces the Malacca
Straits.
He said fire-fighters were preparing booms to contain
the xylene if the ship, which is listing heavily to port, capsized. Foam
would be sprayed to dissolve the xylene.
About 600 tonnes of tuolene, another chemical carried by
the tanker, had already been discharged to tanks at a depot.
"We have advised villagers -- women, old people and
children -- to vacate their homes. We are afraid to lose more lives,"
Ling said.
More than 1,000 people, mostly port workers and their
families, were evacuated from the area after the blast on the tanker at
around 9 p.m.
(1300 GMT) on Saturday sparked a series of explosions and a huge blaze
at the depot.
Flames soared several hundred metres (yards) into the
night sky, belching thick smoke and sending debris flying, witnesses
said.
The blaze at the depot, which houses a blending plant
owned by the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, was extinguished shortly before
midnight.
Chris Knight, chairman of the Malaysian unit of Shell,
said it was too early to assess damage.
Police sources in Port Klang said the bodies of the two
Malaysians were those of Shell workers.
The tanker had 12 Indonesian crew members, including
Captain Mohammed Efendi Santoso, and a Singaporean, according to Huap
Choon
Offshore Supplies Pte Ltd, the Singapore firm which owns the tanker
through its subsidiary Eximpet Enterprise Pte Ltd.
The tanker was chartered by operators, South Eastern
Chemical Shipping Pte Ltd of Singapore, a South Eastern official said.
