Hijacked Tanker Located Aground in the Philippines

Locations of the Jan 28 boarding and Feb 24 discovery of the MT Rehobot. Map courtesy ReCAAP

Philippines Authorities have located a chemical tanker missing since it was boarded by pirates on January 28th in Indonesian waters.

The regional ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre reports that the Indonesian-flagged MT Rehobot was located aground near Mati City in the Davao Oriental province of the Philippines on Tuesday.

The MT Rehobot was hijacked by a gang of eight masked pirates armed with knives on January 28th in the vicinity of Lambeh Island, Indonesia after departing from Bitung earlier that day. All 14 Indonesian crewmembers were later found on January 31 in the ship’s liferafts in the vicinity of the attack, however there were no signs of the ship.

On February 1, the ReCAAP ISC issued an Incident Alert to ships and authorities in the area to keep an eye out for the missing tanker. The vessel was believed to be headed towards Philippines waters, prompting the ReCAAP to alert the Philippines Coast Guard.

The MT Rehobot was located on Tuesday (February 24) after the Philippines Coast Guard received a report that a ship had ran aground. Local authorities proceeded to ship and later confirmed that it was in fact the missing chemical tanker.

The ReCAAP report said that there was sign of spillage of an unknown substance found onboard the ship. What exactly happened to the ship after the initial attack is unclear at this time, the report said.

The MT Rehobot was laden with 1,100 tons of diesel upon its initial departure from Indonesia.

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