A cargo ship with 14 crew members has gone missing off northern Borneo in eastern Malaysia, an official said today.

A search was launched after the Sam Lian failed to arrive in Limbang town, Sarawak state on Saturday as scheduled, a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) spokesperson said.

It had left Kuching, around 900 kilometres down the coast to the south-west, on Sept 2 carrying 500 tonnes of general merchandise.

The owner reported it missing to authorities on Monday after failing to contact the crew, Lieutenant Muhammad Hainizam Mohd Jamil said.

Last month, a Singapore-registered tanker was seized by pirates in Malaysian waters and robbed of its marine fuel before being released.

Of the 134 global piracy incidents in the first half of the year, 92 occurred in South-East Asian waters, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre.

- dpa