KUALA LUMPUR: A fuel tanker has apparently been hijacked and taken into Indonesian waters, Malaysian maritime authorities said Wednesday.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency chief Ahmad Puzi Kahar said that "internal problems" led to the hijacking of the Indonesian registered MT Vier Harmoni.
He said the vessel was carrying about 900,000 liters of diesel and is now in waters off the Indonesian island of Batam, which is close to Singapore.
Indonesia's western naval command and its coast guard said they had been notified by Malaysia about the incident and are searching for the tanker. They said that so far there was no indication the tanker had entered Batam.
The Malaysian maritime agency said it activated its search for the tanker early Wednesday. It said the tanker left from Tanjung Pelepas port in Malaysia's southern Johor state and was suspected to have been hijacked on Tuesday evening.
The 53-meter (175 foot) long Vier Harmoni was built in 2014, according to ship databases. It is owned by Vierlines Asia Group, a regional shipping company.