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Cambodian-bound cargo ship missing, feared hijacked

PHNOM PENH: A Cambodia-bound cargo ship carrying goods worth an estimated $3 million has gone missing and may have been hijacked by pirates in Malaysian waters, a shipping official said on Friday.

The official, with the Kampuchea Shipping Agency (KAMSAB), said the MV Elaine was scheduled to arrive at southern Cambodia's Sihanoukville port on March 30, but the shipping agency had received no information about her whereabouts.

"According to her schedule she should have arrived on March 30 but until now she has not come. We have heard that maybe pirates in Malaysian waters have seized it, but nobody knows exactly," the KAMSAB official told Reuters.

He said the MV Elaine, which left an unidentified Malaysian port last week, was carrying Indonesian cigarettes worth about $3 million, but could provide no more details about the ship.-Reuter