The first officer immediately ordered everyone to leave the stricken vessel. When the crew returning had covered about half the distance to the Silver Star, there were several heavy explosions aboard the Ourang Medan, which did not destroy the ship but only set it on fire. For hours, the Silver Star watched the burning steamer, which finally lay on its side and sank beneath the surface. The sea depth is at this point about 5000 meters.

The captain of the Silver Star had no explanation for the incident, but suspected that the Ourang Medan had loaded chemicals and ammunition and / or explosives. He made a record of the incident in the logbook to report to the authorities on his return home.

On July 12, 1947, a good three weeks later, a lifeboat was washed ashore on the island of Taongi , which is part of the Marshall Islands. Of the seven passengers, six had already died; the last surviving person was cared for by a missionary. The person allegedly was the Second Officer of Ourang Medan, called Jerry Rabbit. According to his information, Ourang Medan had arrived in Ballast Shanghai on June 7, 1947, where Rabbit was recruited. The ship’s command of the steamer, however, strangely enough did not want to see any papers from him. The now second officer suspected that a large proportion of the crew had been recruited in a similar manner. According to Rabbits information it was an originally Chinese steamer, which had possibly been used for cargo or as a troop transport.

In Shanghai, allegedly 7000 boxes of unknown materials were taken over at night. The ship sailed south on the morning of June 9, 1947. In a small harbor, about 80 nautical miles south of Shanghai, a good 8000 boxes were taken on board again. Rabbit suspected that the entire cargo was contraband. The destination of the Ourang Medan was allegedly the coast of Costa Rica , where the cargo at sea should be handed over to another ship.

The course of the steamer was designed to avoid the usual shipping routes and led through the Marianas and Karolinen islands. After ten days, probably around June 21, 1947, the stokers began to fall ill; a stoker died immediately. The captain stated as a cause of death heat stroke, which the second officer considered unlikely, even though in the boiler room in view of the tropical climate extremely high temperatures prevailed. A few days later, the entire machine crew began to fall ill and complained of severe stomach pains or stomach cramps . Looking through the ship’s papers, Rabbit discovered that Ourang Medan had loaded 15,000 boxes of sulfuric acid and cyanide and 20 canisters of nitroglycerine . Rabbit guessed that some of the boxes had become leaky and that fumes had formed. Since the captain refused to make an emergency call, Rabbit, together with six crew members on their own set off a lifeboat and moved away from the now driving steamer, as the ship’s engine stopped.

Since the lifeboat was equipped with neither water or provisions, the six other boat occupants of the lifeboat died within a few days due to the intense heat. Even Jerry Rabbit died of exhaustion a few days after his rescue.

It is unclear whether and how the Silver Star transmitted the story to the authorities or the shipping company when they returned to the United States.