Bulk Carrier Disappears off Indonesia

A bulk carrier is feared capsized after her crew reportedly sent a distress call on Sunday.

The 52,000dwt Indonesia-flagged Nur Allya was en route to Indonesia's Sulawesi province carrying nickel ore when the distress call was made from near Buru Island in the Banda Sea. Contact was subsequently lost with the vessel, and a search is underway for her and her 25 crew.

Some media reports indicate that cargo liquefaction is a possible cause for the vessel's distress.

In releasing its Bulk Carrier Casualty Report 2018 earlier this year, INTERCARGO highlighting that between 2009 to 2018, 188 lives were lost in bulk carrier casualties and 48 bulk carriers over 10,000dwt were identified as total losses. Nine casualties with loss of 101 seafarers’ lives between 2009 and 2018 were believed to be from cargo related failures - the highest cause of loss of life. The incidents involved six bulk carriers carrying nickel ore from Indonesia, two with laterite (clay) iron ore from India and one with bauxite from Malaysia.