A tanker hauling 1 million barrels of oil suffered an explosion whereas close to Libya, its supervisor mentioned Monday.
The Vilamoura is being towed to Greece, the place injury will probably be assessed upon arrival. The blast brought on water consumption and the vessel’s engine room is flooded, a spokesperson for TMS Tankers mentioned. Precisely what brought on the explosion was unclear, they added.
In current months, a collection of thriller blasts hit oil tankers that had beforehand known as at Russian ports. Within the aftermath, shipowners started checking their ships’ hulls for mines with human divers and underwater automobiles. The Vilamoura has sailed to Russian oil terminals twice since April to choose up Kazakh oil, reasonably than Russian barrels.
The Vilamoura known as on the Russian port of Ust-Luga in early April, the place it loaded Kazakh-origin barrels, in line with vessel-tracking knowledge compiled by Bloomberg. It additionally known as on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal close to the Russian port of Novorossiysk in Could, which additionally hundreds largely Kazakh barrels.
There was no air pollution from the blast and the crew are all secure, the spokesperson mentioned.
4 extra vessels have suffered explosions because the begin of the 12 months, in line with Vanguard Tech, a maritime threat consultancy firm. All had just lately known as at Russian ports, it added.
Ukraine has repeatedly sought to undermine Russia’s power infrastructure since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of the nation. In February, Ukrainian drones attacked the Caspian Pipeline Consortium hyperlink, by which 80% of Kazakh oil exports should go.
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