Monday, August 21, 2017

News Commentary: USS John S McCain collides with oil tanker off coast of Singapore.

Throwing shade (I think I'm using "shade" correctly in this case):
From eyeballing the map, the location seems to be quite a bit north of Pedra Branca and in Malaysian waters, possibly. From reports, 4 ships from SGN and SG Coast Guard are attending to the incident and the damaged vessels since 0532hrs. Malaysia has also sent one ship (likely Navy) to render assistance. Maybe from their new maritime base at Middle Rocks, just south of Pedra Branca. No confirmation of the time the MY ships were deployed, but the earliest tweet with info on MY ship deployment was at 0909hrs. Quite sure it was not deployed so late. I believe their working day starts at 0800hrs.

Also from SG: Two Super Pumas and one Chinook (helicopters) assisting (transporting injured sailors for medical attention). No info on MY helicopters deployed.

From another news report: "Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it stands ready to help in the search and rescue operation if needed. This will need to be coordinated with the Indonesian military, ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said."

My rough translation of the Indonesian statement is: "do you require wayang kulit?"

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