Oil Spill After Containership and Bulk Carrier Collide in Strait of Malacca

A containership and a bulk carrier collided early Sunday in the Strait of Malacca, causing major damage and resulting in an oil spill.

The Malaysian Coast guard reports that the containership MV Zephyr Lumos and bulk carrier MV Galapagos collided at 14.1 nautical miles southwest of Kuala Sungai just after midnight. The agency said the Galapagos reportedly suffered a rudder failure that resulted in the ship crossing in from of the Zephyr Lumos.

Photos published by the Coast Guard show an oil spill from the breached hull of the Galapagos.

Zephyr Lumos is a new 2021-built containership registered in the United Kingdom. It measures 366-meters-long and 15,000 TEU capacity. AIS ship tracking shows it is underway from Singapore to the Suez Canal.

MV Galapagos, registered in Malta, measures 225-meters-long and is 76,000 DWT. It was built in 2010. AIS shows it is sailing from Gladstone, Australia to Visakhapatnam, India.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Some photos published by the Malaysian Coast Guard are below:

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