NOW IT’S A MISSING MALAYSIAN TANKER THAT HAS DISAPPEARED

Now this is an unusual article and I have to share it, because of its potential relationship to the still-missing Malaysian Flight 370. It was shared by a regular reader here, Mr. K.L.:

Malaysian tanker with $6 million petrol cargo still missing

Now, here's the crux of the argument:

Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) believes the missing tanker MT Orkim Harmony is in Indonesian waters now, after more than three days of fruitless searching.

MMEA's Vice-Admiral Maritime Datuk Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar said today that its charts showed that the vessel carrying RM21 million worth of RON 95 petrol would eventually reach Vietnam if it kept heading north.

The ship disappeared off radar off Johor's Tanjung Sedili four days ago while heading east for Kuantan port, he said, adding that it would have reached Sabah's capital Kota Kinabalu by this afternoon if it kept its course.

"But until now, we have not been able to track the ship in the Sarawak and Sabah waters, so most likely it is still at the South China Sea and surrounding areas.

"From our analysis that we made, the biggest possibility is that it is at the Nantuna and Anambas islands area," the MMEA deputy director general in charge of operations told the media at the agency's headquarters, referring to the Indonesian group of islands that lay in between Johor and Borneo.

He said Malaysia has contacted Indonesian authorities to aid in the search in that area and is also seeking clearance to enter Indonesian waters to continue the search.

So, the points here are: (1)Malaysia supects maritime piracy; and (2) it suspects the ship is in Indonesian waters, and has contacted Indonesia and the other relevant nations in the region to aid in the search for the missing ship. Does this sound vaguely like the story of the missing Malaysia Air Flight 370? Well, perhaps, but read on, where,towards the end of the article, we see this:

Ahmad Puzi confirmed that this was likely a case of maritime robbery - the fourth recorded by Malaysian authorities in the South China Sea waters this year, stating that it was believed to be motivated by economic reasons.

He also confirmed that no ransom demands had been issued for the 22 crew members aged between 20 and 62.

The multinational crew is headed by a Malaysian captain and comprises of 15 other Malaysians, five Indonesians and one from Myanmar.

The 5,879 metric tonnes of RON 95 petrol cargo is owned by national oil giant Petronas, he said.

Just a week ago from Orkim Harmony's disappearance, Malaysian oil tanker Orkim Victory was hijacked on June 4 and had some of its oil cargo stolen before it resurfaced the same day with all 18 crewmembers unharmed.

MMEA was reported saying by The Star that the pirates had fled to Pulau Matek in Indonesia's Anambas islands.(emphasis added)

So now one has the reasons the Malaysian government suspects the missing freighter has been subject to piracy: it would be the fourth act of piracy so far, and that the region's is apparently subject to pirates emanating from somewhere in the region of Indonesia.

...Except...

In this instance there have as yet been no ransom demands, and, as noted, in previous cases, the cargos have been stolen and crew members subsequently released. So the absence of these events in this case might contra-indicate an act of piracy.

And that odd circumstance prompts the following medium-octane speculation:

This incident(and its context), might have a relationship to the missing Malaysia air flight 370, for first of all, the pattern seems to be focused - for whatever reason - on Malaysian air and sea transportation assets. More importantly, if this should prove to be a part of a pattern of piracy, then this might indicate that those who have argued that Malaysia Air 370 was carrying both technicians and sensitive technology to China, might have fallen victim to an act or "preventative piracy." But on the other side of the coin, if this missing tanker should never be found nor its crew never show up, then it might indicate something else, something perhaps truly paranormal or, perhaps, "super-technological" might also be occurring in the region literally causing things to "disappear". It remains strange that there may be some sort of pattern emerging here with the focus on Malaysian transportation assets. My guess, like Malaysia's, is that this is probably piracy, but it's that lack of any trace (so far) of the missing ship, the lack of a ransom, that makes me suspect that the Malaysia Air 370 template may be repeating here.

If so, then we have a real mystery, a real anomaly, real disappearance that(in my case at least) I suspect is due to exotic technological causes, as I suspect may be the case with the disappearance of Flight 370.

Time will tell...

See you on the flip side...