A sanctioned North Korean ship disappeared from tracking systems on Wednesday morning, with its last position indicating it was heading for the Chinese coast, the NK News vessel tracker shows.

The Chong Bong, one of the vessels on the UN’s 27 ship blacklist, was last seen heading west towards the Chinese port of Lanshan at 3am local time.

The vessel only broadcast a short burst of location data, which said it was “underway using engine” and travelling at a speed of 9 knots.

The 6800 tonne general cargo ship was still more than 50km from the Chinese coast, and could