Three seafarers are still missing from an Aframax tanker, Pablo which caught fire off the coast of Malaysia on Monday.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency MMEA said it received an alert on Monday that fire had broken out at 4pm on the Gabon-registered vessel 37.5 nautical miles northeast of Tanjung Sedili.

Two vessels in the vicinity rescued 23 of the 28 crew on board while an MMEA vessel sent to the scene picked-up two seafarers from the water. According to the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) 18 of the crew were rescued by the tanker Enola.

Three seafarers from the stricken tanker remain missing.

The MPA named the tanker involved in the fire as the Gabon-registered Pablo. The Equasis database lists the Pablo as a 1997-built, 96,773 dwt tanker.