On May 5, Mfame reported about a Tanker with No Crew – Drifted Ashore! This week…
A Nigerian national has come forward to claim ownership of the ghost oil tanker that was washed up on the shores of Liberia and two of the tanker’s crew who had mysteriously vanished have now been located.
The Panama-registered oil tanker, en route to Senegal that disappeared from radar three weeks prior was found grounded on the Liberian shores on May 3. The owner claims that the vessel developed technical fault before grounding in Liberia. The 1,400-dwt vessel built in 1980 grounded at Robertsport on 3 May, with no crew in evidence, sparking international press speculation about how it ended up in Liberia.
Reports say that the vessel was lastly recorded on April 22, heading to the port of Dakar, Senegal, from the south. All the contact with the crew was then lost. It was presumed to be a pirate attack but now the mystery is revealed that the ship experienced technical difficulties. The ship sprung a leak in the engine room. The vessel was in danger of capsizing while off the coast between Sierra Leone and Conakry, Guinea. The crew then allegedly disembarked on the lifeboat when its efforts to stop the leak failed. This forced the crew to abandon ship and board a fishing vessel, leaving their lifeboat behind.
A shipowner called Robert Saigba has now claimed to be one of two shareholders in a company called H Matic’s Resources, of Bayelsa state, which he says controls the vessel. Its former flag state Panama confirmed it had been sold into and reflagged in, Nigeria last October. The owner claims that his company is engaged in the supply of petroleum products, marine logistics, haulage and civil engineering.
The liberian ministry has not arrested any of the crew as the owner and the crew are co operating with the Liberian security institutions. The owner of the ship disclosed that the vessel was used to carry groundnut oil from Senegal to Europe and left Dakar in Senegal for Nigeria on 22 April before it developed a technical fault at sea.
Source: Government of the Republic of Liberia
