The captain of a tanker destroyed by an explosion off Malaysia has spoken of how he tried to get his colleagues off the vessel.
New photos released by Malaysian authorities show the devastation caused by the blast on board the 96,800-dwt aframax Pablo (built 1997) on Monday near Tanjung Sedili.
Footage shot from a nearby VLCC, the 301,000-dwt Enola (built 2002), shows a huge part of the deck being ejected into the sea seconds after the explosion.
Three men were reported missing, and search and rescue efforts were continuing.
The Pablo’s Ukrainian captain, Oleksandr Lepyoskin, 38, first noticed the fire as thick, black, blinding smoke spread from the vessel’s middle section.
He told the New Straits Times that he rushed to the cargo control room, where the radio and emergency systems were located, to alert the crew and make a distress call.
“The fire on the upper deck destroyed our aerial, none of the communication equipment was functioning, including the distress button. I had to use the walkie-talkie, as all communication equipment failed,” Lepyoskin said.
“I kept on repeating ‘MT Pablo on fire’, yet nothing seemed to work, there was static on the other end.”
He also discovered the lifeboats had been burned.
“As the captain I got my crew to abandon the vessel, but as they were jumping off the vessel in all directions, I could not keep a headcount,” he said.
Breathing difficult
“I finally abandoned ship as the thick, black smoke was getting into my eyes, nose and mouth, and I found it difficult to keep my eyes open or even breathe. It was windy too, causing the fire to spread rapidly. I could not see anything.”
The captain said two passing ships helped rescue 23 seafarers, while two others were picked up by Malaysian authorities.
“I believe my three [missing] crewmen are still alive. They are well trained. I believe they have locked themselves in one of the airtight cabins; my only fear is the cabin is too small and there won’t be enough oxygen for them if they panic,” Lepyoskin said.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) deputy director-general for logistics Saiful Lizan Ibrahim also said the men may have become trapped.
The missing seafarers have been named as Indian nationals Satyam Tripathi, 26, and Dinesh Kumar, 34, and Ukrainian Sabit Shenderovsky, 37.
The MMEA has deployed 136 staff in a joint operation with the navy, fisheries department and police.
A helicopter and nine patrol boats were also at the scene.
The fire was extinguished on Monday.
TradeWinds reported on Tuesday that the vessel was stripped of its flag three times in 16 months after claims of involvement in trading sanctioned Iranian crude.
The Pablo was deleted from three different registries from June 2021 to October 2022 following its alleged involvement in ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned oil and an Iranian port call, said United Against Nuclear Iran, which has been tracking its movements.
