KUALA TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA - Mystery surrounds the sudden appearance of a barge at the popular Batu Burok beach in Terengganu, believed to have run aground after battling rough waves in the South China Sea.

The Singapore-registered barge was first noticed washed ashore on Thursday morning.

Like a ghost ship, the barge was found dumped on the shore on the quieter stretch of the beach, about 1.5km from the tourist belt.

The secluded location, however, has not stopped it from drawing swarms of curious onlookers driven by the opportunity to have a close look at a huge vessel.

None of the relevant authorities seemed to have any clue on its origins or how it ended it up on the beach.

Fisherman Johari Mohamad, who was among the group of onlookers at the beach yesterday, said he had seen the barge being towed by a tug boat while he was out at sea on Wednesday morning.

"I was about three hours from shore then.

"My guess is that the waves had been too rough for the tug boat and it had to abandon the barge at one point."

Johari reckons that the barge could have been washed ashore in the wee hours of Thursday.

--NST