Two explosions shook an oil tank on Saturday off the coast of Italy. Now the public prosecutor's office has initiated terrorist investigations. It is the third incident within a few weeks.
After explosions on an oil tanker, the Italian public prosecutor's office initiated terrorist investigations. The ship recorder has been ensured, Genoa's Attorney Genua, Nicola Piacenter, told the Reuters news agency.
On Saturday, the ship “Seajewel” of the Thenamaris Greek shipping company was shaken by two detonations. At the time of the incident, the ship was ahead of Savona-Vado, 60 kilometers west of Genoa.
Big crack in the fuselage after explosion
A 70 by 120 centimeters of crack in the fuselage was then created below the waterline. According to the ship operator, there is no danger to the environment. According to the company, the tanker hired its operation on Saturday.
It was not the first topic of Thenamaris tankers: According to the shipping company, there was also an incident on the “SACHARM”, which is examined by Greek authorities. Reuters quoted an insider, according to which the “SACHARM” was damaged by an explosion when it was in front of anchor in front of the Turkish Mediterranean port at the end of January. According to Thenamaris, the “SACHARM” is now driving again.
Three incidents in the Mediterranean
In total, three oil tankers have been damaged by explosions in the past few weeks in separate incidents in the Mediterranean. The cause is unknown. According to insiders and shipping data, all three ships recently started Russian ports.
The third incident occurred in February at the “Grace Ferrum” chemical and oil tanker driving under the flag of Liberia, which, according to them, had to be recovered. So far, there has been no statement from the ship operator from Cyprus.
The fact that merchant ships in the central Mediterranean were damaged by detonations had previously not occurred for decades. In December, a Russian merchant ship sank off Spain, which was occupied by US sanctions. Russia spoke of a terrorist act, two crew members are still missing.
