Editing Ourang Medan (section)

===Unsecured hazardous materials cargo===
Bainton and others hypothesize that ''Ourang Medan'' might have been involved in smuggling operations of chemical substances such as a combination of [[potassium cyanide]] and [[nitroglycerin]] or even wartime stocks of [[nerve agent|nerve agents]]. According to these theories, sea water would have entered the ship's hold, reacting with the cargo to release toxic gases, which then caused the crew to succumb to [[asphyxia]] and/or [[poison|poisoning]]. Later, the sea water would have reacted with the nitroglycerin, causing the reported fire and explosion.<ref name="bainton" />

Another theory is that the ship was transporting [[tabun (nerve agent)|nerve gas]] which the Japanese military had been storing in [[China]] during the war, and which was handed over to the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] at the end of the war. No U.S. ship could transport it as it would leave a paper trail. It was therefore loaded onto a non-registered ship for transport to the U.S. or an island in the Pacific.{{cn|date=March 2025}}