Rescue and search for nine Chinese seamen, who remained missing after a ship collision in the Malacca Straits on Tuesday night, was continuing, a Malaysian officer said on Thursday.
"Based on findings, there is a strong possibility that some of them still on board," said Tan Kok Kwee, the director of the search and rescue operation in Port Dickson, some 90 kilometers southwest of Kuala Lumpur.
The missing seamen were on a Liberia-registered oil tanker owned by a Taiwan company, which had been burning since the collision Tuesday night, Tan told Xinhua at his recuse operation office at Port Dickson in the state of Sembilan.
Tan added that people could judge the surviving possibility of the missing seamen from the severe burning image of the tanker which was collided by a bulk carrier from Britain and caught huge fire.
The burning fire due to the explosion had shot up to 60 meters from the tanker, a surviving seaman said.
However, Tan said that the fire had been put off at about 4.30 a.m. on Thursday.
He added that the search and rescue operation was still in progress but his teams could not proceed onto the tanker due to high temperature of the tanker's body after the burning.
Tan also said that the tanker has to be checked by professionals to confirm its condition and structure was safe for the search and rescue teams to be on board.
He said that his teams could go on board on Friday if the checking results show positive.
Meanwhile, Tan said that 200 members of the search and rescue operation were at the sea and 15 members were standing by at a jetty.
He also said that the operation involved boats, helicopters and plane, while the local participating authorities included police, fire and rescue department, navy, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agencym, the Malaysian Marine Department and the Malaysian Public Service Department.
(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2009)
