Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a product tanker after it left the Khor Al Zubair port in Iraq loaded with 1,500 tonnes of fuel oil.
Splash has obtained data that the tanker in query is the Togo-flagged Betelgeuse. The vessel is owned by the Marshall Islands-based firm Madrigal Marine.
The proprietor’s consultant, Ahmad Al Sharif, said that some 24 hours after it left the port the vessel went lacking and that there was no contact with the vessel. It went lacking within the Arabian Gulf some 105 km off Bushehr, Iran.
The corporate was contacted right now by one of many crew members and was knowledgeable that each the 1987-built vessel and its 12-strong crew have been taken.
The crewman said that the members of the IRGC boarded the tanker with weapons and ordered the captain to close off AIS. The vessel is at present crusing and is underneath orders to sail to Bushehr port.
In keeping with an extra replace from Al Sharif, the fuel oil is now being offloaded within the Iranian port whereas the crew of the vessel is being taken to jail.