Libya's coast guards tow damaged Russian LNG tanker away from its shores
The Straits Times
March 25 - Libya’s coast guard has begun towing away a damaged liquefied natural gas tanker that several Mediterranean countries warned posed an environmental risk after drifting unmanned for weeks, the Tripoli‑based Government of National Unity (GNU) said. Read more at straitstimes.com.
March 25 - Libya’s coast guard has begun towing away a damaged liquefied natural gas tanker that several Mediterranean countries warned posed an environmental risk after drifting unmanned for weeks, the Tripoli‑based Government of National Unity (GNU) said.
The Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz, carrying LNG from the Arctic port of Murmansk, has been adrift since early March, when Russia’s Transport Ministry said it was hit by Ukrainian naval drones.
With no crew aboard, it eventually drifted close to the shores of the western Libyan port of Zuwara.
Italy, France, Spain and six other southern EU members wrote to the European Commission last week warning the tanker posed "an imminent and serious risk of a major ecological disaster".
A video posted on Tuesday by the Tripoli-based GNU's Hakomitna media platform showed a frigate towing the tanker with a thick rope through the water.
The commander of operations for the central sector of the coast guard and ports security, Omar Mohamed Omar Al-Tuwair, said in the video that the abandoned tanker has been towed away from Zuwara's shores.
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