SINGAPORE, August 19. /TASS/. The Russian tanker Zolotoi Most has been detained in the Malaysian territorial waters over the absence of approval documents for anchorage, Russia’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur told TASS on Friday.
"The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency has confirmed the detention of the Russian oil tanker near the state of Johor at 12:30 local time [04:30 GMT] on August 18. The tanker was detained over the absence of authorization documents for anchorage," the Russian diplomatic mission said.
"During a talk held today by the senior assistant to the vessel’s captain with the Agency’s representatives, the Malaysian side, in particular, pointed to the need for the ship-owner to appoint a local agent for resolving issues related to the investigation," the Russian embassy said.
The Russian diplomats "are closely watching the developments;" however, "the embassy has not received any appeals from the vessel’s crew or the ship-owner for assistance," the embassy said.
The Agency’s representative in the state of Johor, Iskandar Ishak, said on Friday that "the detained tanker was carrying about 31,000 tons of fuel oil from Bangladesh. There are 25 people aged 24-59, presumably all Russians, on its board."
As the representative said, "according to the explanations, the vessel made an anchorage in this district after receiving the relevant information from the agent."
As was reported earlier, "the Malaysian coast guard received information on the tanker’s anchorage in about 3.5 nautical miles from the coast of the port of Piai (the southern port of Johor). As Iskandar Ishak said, "the inspection showed that the crew had no documents permitting the anchorage in that district. Besides, the tanker anchored in the prohibited area."
The Malaysian representative also said that "the crew had not notified Malaysia’s authorities in advance of the vessel’s entry into the country’s territorial waters.".