Ship Caught Fire In Malaysian Waters, Coastal Cemari Oil Spill In Batam

The Director of Special Crimes at the Riau Islands Police, Kombes Pol. Nasriadi, said that the black oil waste that polluted Kampung Melayu Beach, Batam City, allegedly came from the MT Pablo Ship with a Chinese-Singapore destination that caught fire in Malaysian waters.

"From the report we received from the Harbormaster Office and Port Authority (KSOP) that the black oil waste was thought to have come from the MT Pablo Ship with a Chinese-Singapore destination with a Gabon-flagged ship that caught fire in Malaysian waters two days ago, Monday (1/5)," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 3.

In addition, he said, a report from the Batam City Environment Agency that, judging from the results of the Print Satellite on April 30, 2023, there were three oil spill locations located at the eastern OPL (out port limit) with an estimated spill area of 13.70 Kilometers.

"According to estimates of the contamination incident on the Kampung Melayu Beach line, it has a connection with the spill that occurred in the eastern OPL," he said.

Not only there, it is suspected that the black oil waste was also found in the anchorage area of Batu Ampar and Tanjung Uncang waters.

He said that for now his party had coordinated with several related parties such as KSOP and DLH to carry out temporary countermeasures and find out where the waste came from.

"Earlier, the KSOP carried out temporary countermeasures using the Absorbent Pad device, which was intended to absorb the oil spill," he said.