B

atam: The Indonesian Navy has readied several of its vessels to monitor an oil spill following a collision between two vessels in the waters off Singapore on Sunday afternoon.

The commandant of the Tanjung Pinang Naval Station (Lantamal IV), commodore Agus Heryana, said on Monday that the oil spill could pollute some parts of Indonesian waters in Batam, Bintan and Karimun.

He said that the Navy had dispatched nine warships and scores of patrol ships to the Indonesia-Singapore border to monitor the spill’s movement.

“The Navy officers will determine what next steps need to be taken after monitoring the spill,” he said.

Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier, Sunny Horizon, collided with Korean-registered liquified petroleum gas carrier, DL Salvia, about 700 meters east of Beting Sultan, next to Jurong Island, southwest of Singapore on Sunday at around 2 p.m.

Separately, a member of the Indonesian Fishermen Association in Riau Islands, A Nasution, said that the oil spill would definitely spell trouble for local fishermen because they must go further out to sea for fishing. He said that the oil spill would keep fish from approaching the seashore.

“It will take more than a week to clean up the oil spill. Therefore, the fishermen are now facing the threat of having fewer fish in the sea. The government must pay close attention to this problem,” Nasution said.