“We decided to seize the ship for a thorough investigation of the oil spill that harmed Balikpapan Bay for 21 days,” East Kalimantan Police investigation chief Yustan Alpiani is quoted as saying by Indonesian Bernar News.
The ship’s captain and its 20 crew members have banned from leaving Indonesia until the investigation is concluded, the Jakarta Post said.
As informed, the ship is tied up to a dock in Semayang Port waters.
The anchor of 82,000 dwt bulk carrier has been identified as the likely cause of the rupture of an undersea pipe belonging to a local refinery owned by Pertamina, Indonesian Navy’s hydrographic office found, which resulted in the release of a massive amount of crude oil spreading across 26 kilometers. According to a report from Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the incident affected around 34 hectares Mangrove ecosystem and caused health problems to the people in the area.
Ever Judger was the only vessel in the waters of Balikpapan Bay, according to the vessel’s AIS data, at the time of the incident. The ship’s anchor is believed to have dragged the pipe some 300 feet from its original position. Judging on the evidence found so far the anchor did damage the pipeline and a forensic reconstruction of the events is yet to be completed based on the found remains of the pipe to conclude the case.
Pertamina has since been engaged with local authorities on containing the spill. The company is said to be waiting for the results of the investigation and is likely to consider legal action against the culprit once officially determined.
Nevertheless, local organizations have criticised Indonesia authorities for their failure to establish early warning systems to foreign vessels to avoid such occurrences, urging the security around such pipelines be improved.
巴拿馬船籍國領導人MV Ever Judger被East Kalimantan警方查獲，目前正在調查3月31日發生的大規模漏油事件和相關火災事故，造成5人死亡。
“我們決定抓捕這艘船，徹底調查Balikpapan Bay遭受石油洩漏事件後21天，”印尼Bernar新聞引用East Kalimantan警方調查總監Yustan Alpiani的話。
雅加達郵報稱，該船的船長及其20名船員已被禁止離開印度尼西亞，直至調查結束。
據了解，該船被綁在Semayang港口水域的碼頭上。
印度尼西亞海軍水文局發現，82,000載重噸散貨船的錨 已被確定為 屬於當地煉油廠的海底管道破裂的可能原因，該海底管道導致大量原油洩漏26公里。根據印度尼西亞環境和林業部的報告，這一事件影響了約34公頃的紅樹林生態系統，並給該地區的人民帶來了健康問題。
根據船舶的AIS數據，在事件發生時，Ever Judger是Balikpapan Bay水域唯一的船隻。據信該船的錨桿將管道從其原始位置拖拽了300英尺。根據迄今為止發現的證據，錨桿確實損壞了管道，並且基於發現的管道殘留物法醫判定事件的重建尚未完成。
此後，Pertamina與地方當局就溢油事故進行了溝通。據稱該公司正在等待調查結果，並可能會考慮對正式確定的罪魁禍首採取法律行動。
儘管如此，當地組織卻批評印尼當局未能為外國船舶建立預警系統以避免此類事件的發生，並敦促圍繞此類管道的安全得到改善。
Image Courtesy: World Maritime News Staff / Imformation Source: World Maritime News Staff
