The damaged bulker Ever Judger has been arrested by police in Indonesia as part of a probe into a fatal fire last month.
The 82,000-dwt ship (built 2014) is docked at Semayang following the blaze that killed five fishermen on 31 March in Balikpapan Bay.
“The confiscation is in line with a Balikpapan district court order,” the East Kalimantan police’s special crime investigation directorate head Yustan Alpiani told the Jakarta Post.
Four officers have been deployed to guard the bulker.
The police have asked the immigration office to prevent crew from leaving the country while the investigation continues.
The vessel was caught up in a fire caused when crude oil from a ruptured Pertamina pipeline ignited.
This may have been caused by a discarded fishermen's cigarette or clean-up workers trying to burn off the oil.
The Indonesian navy later said it was likely that Ever Judger's anchor had caused the pipeline breach.
The navy claimed Ever Judger was the only cargo vessel in the area at the time of the accident.
Divers found a nearly 500m-long gash torn into the seabed that resembles the vessel's anchor, investigators said, according to AFP.
Cooperating fully
The owner and manager of Ever Judger, Fleet Management Limited and Ever Judger (Holdings), has previously told TradeWinds that the ship had arrived in Balikpapan Bay on the night of 30 March under local pilotage.
"Managers and owners of the Ever Judger continue to cooperate fully with the investigation into the incident and oil spill emanating from the Pertamina pipeline in Balikpapan and await the outcome of the official investigation before commenting further," they added.
"Our thoughts and condolences go out to families who lost their loved ones in the tragic fire that followed the spill.
"As previously stated, if the official investigation identifies the vessel as being implicated in the incident, then owners and managers will meet their responsibilities in line with established international protocols.”
