The Sam Ratulangi PB 1600, missing for nine years, was found adrift on a beach in Burma, without crew or cargo. Upon inspection, authorities found only five curious fishermen.

Police discovered broken cables on the bow, leading them to track down a tugboat called the Independence, located 80 km off the coast. The crew admitted they were towing the vessel to a scrapyard in Bangladesh, but bad weather snapped the cables, forcing them to abandon the ship.

Thus, the mystery of the “ghost ship” was solved. It was actually a vessel in transit to dismantling that was left adrift by a storm.