Malaysia evacuates crew from burning car transporter

(Meager) The Malaysian Coast Guard reported the evacuation of 19 crew members of a car carrier that caught fire on December 2. The crew, consisting of 18 Filipinos and one Malaysian, were safely transported and brought ashore by a Malaysian patrol boat.

The ship with the name Malaysia Star (9,300 dwt) was traveling within Malaysia from Port Klang to Kota Kinabalu in the northern part of the island of Borneo when problems arose. The fire was reported at 8:40 a.m. local time on Monday morning and the ship anchored about 9 nautical miles from Tanjung Laboh, Batu Pahat Johor, near the southern tip of the peninsula on the Strait of Malacca.

Firefighting operations reportedly continued even after the ship was evacuated (Malaysia Maritime).

Malaysia Star is a locally owned car transporter built and registered in China in 1992. It has a capacity of 1,466 vehicles.

Two Malaysia Maritime patrol boats and a Marine Police Force vessel were deployed to the ship. In the pictures you can see smoke rising from the ship. Authorities reported that the fire started near the ship’s fuel tanks. Due to the dangers, the crew was withdrawn from the ship.

According to reports, the firefighting work continued. The cause of the fire was not known, but the ship was named during port state inspections. In June, authorities in Bangladesh discovered problems with the fire alarm system and fire dampers. During two previous port state inspections, the authorities found deficiencies in oil and dirt mixtures from the engine rooms.