TELUK INTAN: The Royal Malaysian Navy’s biggest landing craft, KD Sri Inderapura, caught fire again some 16 hours after a blaze on board the vessel was put out on Thursday.
The vessel, which had been berthed at the Lumut Naval Base, was towed to the middle of the sea for safety reasons shortly after it caught fire a second time in two days at 8am yesterday.
As at 5pm, the vessel was still burning.
It had been scheduled to transport logistics goods to the Markas Wilayah Laut Dua in Kota Kinabalu on Monday when it caught fire.
Still burning: Thick smoke billowing from the KD Inderapura which was towed to the middle of the sea Friday. It was one of the vessels that escorted Malaysian commercial shipping against pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden in Somalia last year.
Speaking to reporters earlier in Bagan Datoh near here, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the second fire could have been due to embers from the first one.
“Right now, I’m still waiting for an update on the situation,” he said after launching five new Territorial Army platoons here.
Ahmad Zahid said the Government could not decide on the fate of the vessel until a full report on the incident was received from the investigative board in a month’s time.
The KD Sri Inderapura was built in 1970 and had been used by the United States Navy after it was commissioned as the USS Spartanburg County. On Dec 16, 1994, the ship was handed over to the Malaysian navy.
Ahmad Zahid said the damage suffered by the vessel on Thursday was far worse than the 2002 fire. Then, repair works had cost RM68mil.
“If it can be repaired at a reasonable cost, we will do so. Otherwise, it would be wiser to buy a new vessel,” he said.
Meanwhile in Putrajaya, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Government would wait for the Defence Ministry to submit a proposal to buy a new naval vessel to replace KD Sri Inderapura.
“Let Mindef make the request to the Cabinet. We will decide on this later,” he told reporters yesterday.
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