OSINT on 3x Burning Ships at Panama Yesterday
Summary of Panamanian ship fires yesterday, 11 May 2022. Assembled by a friend:
Total ablaze 3x ships and 1x smaller boat.
Fire, 3 Tuna ships owner Rocmar Seafood, 1-2 Nauts off coast of Puerto Vacamonte, West Panama, PA. 8 crew, all saved without injury.
Timeline (Panama LT UTC-5)
20220508 1324 Leaving, CK686, PV, speed 6.1 knots [AIS]
20220508 1713 Position, CK686, 44.6km south of PV [AIS]
20220511 1040 Fire, moored 1-2 nautical miles (1.85 - 3.7km) from Puerto Vacamonte [UCOLA]
20220511 ~1900 AMP reports. No fuel spill. “Accident” [AMP1]
Ships
All owned by Rocmar Seafood, Panama. 8 crew aboard.
Rising Star 32m length, PA flag [UCOLA]
Chung Kuo No.85 Built 2001, 32m length, width 6.6m, PA flag, IMO: 8968480, MMSI: ? [UCOLA, MT85]
Chung Kuo No.686 Built 1994, 28m length (IATTC says 23.8m), width 5.3m, VA / Vanuatu flag, IMO: 8668743, MMSI: 577224000, Callsign: YJTR6 [UCOLA, MT685, VF686, IATTC]
Numbers on side: HP5313
Numbers on side: HO7201
CK858 - HO9536 later shown alongside CK85 & CK91 [TW1]
Note: Chung Kuo is likely Wade-Giles romanisation of Pinyin Zhong-guo (China). Wade-Giles is used in Taiwan (not mainland) and CK686 was built in Taiwan at Shing Sheng Fa Boatbuilding Company, Ltd.
Places
PV: Puerto Vacamonte, West Panama, PA: 8.864472246594774, -79.67286856010709 [GMAPS]
CK686a: Chung Kuo No.686 Last reported position 8 May, 1713: 8.462239835835096, -79.68063706724188. Not location of fire - not 1-2 nauts from PV.
Distance between PV & CK686a: 44.6km / 27.7mi / 24 nauts.
Orgs
AMP: PA Maritime Authority: https://twitter.com/AMP_Panama
SENAN: PA Aeronaval Service: https://twitter.com/SENANPanama
Rocmar Seafood:
Media
Video boats approaching burning vessels: not original sources: https://twitter.com/raulvega12/status/1524511639827009539
Photos - from shore of burning vessels. Incorrect claim of chinese ships. https://twitter.com/panamaendirecto/status/1524424988719255561
AMP Photos+Text: “Verificamos que no exista derrame de combustible que afecte el medio marino y determinar las posibles causas de este accidente”
Translated: We verified that there is no fuel spill affecting the marine environment and determined the possible causes of this accident.
https://twitter.com/AMP_Panama/status/1524536986522071040 [AMP1]
SENAN: Videos, twitter thread.
https://twitter.com/SENANPanama/status/1524428108304158720
“#EnDesarrollo | Boats dedicated to fishing activity catch fire in the port of Vacamonte. Units #Aeronavales aboard BPC-2512 are currently on site.”
“Moments in which the AN-032 aircraft prepares to fly over the place where the burning boats are located, near the Port of Vacamonte.”
#EnDesarrollo | Moments where Search and Rescue units together with @BCBRP aboard the L-306, carry out firefighting tasks on the affected vessels and the BAP-2512 vessel remains to provide support.
#En Development Right now we are on board the vessel L-306 with personnel from
@BCBRP to put out the fire
SENAN video: S&R interview on actions taken (ES).
https://twitter.com/SENANPanama/status/1524572358710812673
Video: Float past three ships side by side: Chung Kuo Nos 91, 85, 858. CKs 85&91 have fire damage. CK858 appears to be fine - possibly came to the aid of others.
https://twitter.com/TReporta/status/1524506600463032321 [TW1]
Sources
AIS: MarineTraffic Terrestrial Automatic Identification System. Self-reported mostly.
GMAPS: Google maps
IATTC: Only for CK686 as callsign YJTR6, other callsigns don’t have a result. https://www.iattc.org/en-US/Management/Vessel-register
MT686: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:5965306/mmsi:577224000/imo:0/vessel:CHUNG_KUO_NO_686
MT85: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:888986/mmsi:-8968480/imo:8968480/vessel:CHUNG_KUO_NO_85
UCOLA: https://elcomentario.ucol.mx/se-incendian-3-buques-pesqueros-frente-a-las-costas-de-panama/ - based on PA Maritime Authority (https://amp.gob.pa/) similar articles appear in other media.
VF686: https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/CHUNG-KUO-NO.686-IMO-0-MMSI-577224000
Background
IMO - IMOxxxxxxx permanently assigned to a ship
MMSI - MIDxxxxxx given by registry in country “MID”
https://help.fleetmon.com/en/articles/2010884-what-is-the-difference-between-imo-and-mmsi-number