Kuala Lumpur: An oil tanker carrying 900,000 litres of diesel has been hijacked and taken into Indonesian waters, Malaysian maritime authorities said on Tuesday.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said in a statement that the ship, Vier Harmoni, has been located in the waters off Batam, Indonesia.

The MMEA said they have yet to confirm the identity of the hijackers. The ship, which sailed from the Tanjung Pelepas port in Malaysia on Monday, was carrying diesel with an estimated value of 1.57 million ringgit ($511,250).

In June last year, Indonesian pirates hijacked another Malaysian tanker, the Orkim Victory, and pumped the oil from it into another tanker before releasing it.

Reuters, Fairfax Media

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