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Authorities in Malta are closely monitoring the hulk of the Russian gas carrier Arctic Metagas as it drifts toward the island nation. Earlier reports had said the vessel had sunk after a devastating explosion and fire last week, but now it is reported to be approaching Malta. The Times of Malta reported on Monday, March 9, that the vessel was approximately 35 nautical miles to the southeast. It had not yet crossed into Malta’s territorial waters, but the authorities are closely monitoring the hulk with regular surveillance flights. The Maltese authorities on March 10 issued a warning to mariners about the hulk. They ordered ships to remain at least five nautical miles away from the hulk. Previously, the Libyan authorities had also warned that the vessel could still explode due to the belief that there was still LNG aboard or that it might lose stability and sink at any point. Malta’s Prime Minister, Robert Abela, said the island has a contingency plan in case the tanker continues to approach, but he did not specify what Malta might do to control the hulk. Reports said the Maltese authorities were trying to contact the vessel’s managers to determine what actions they were planning to take. Last week, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri gave a briefing on the situation the day after the vessel exploded. It had sailed past Malta at a distance of approximately 25 nautical miles on Monday, March 2, and was approximately 150 nautical miles southeast of Malta when the explosion occurred. According to the minister, Malta received a Mayday call at approximately 1:15 pm local time on March 3, saying the vessel was on fire and required immediate assistance. They, however, believe the explosion had occurred around 0400 that morning. A Maltese reconnaissance plane reached the area and reported that the crew was entering lifeboats. It issued another Mayday call, and the report says the crude oil tanker Respect went to assist the crew. The tanker registered in Oman is part of the Russian shadow fleet and happened to be in the same area of the Mediterranean. Russian authorities’ only comments were to accuse Ukraine of attacking the ship with a drone. They had highlighted that the event went largely unnoticed, with no condemnation from the West. The 30 crewmembers were rescued and taken to Tobruk in Libya. Two are reported to be suffering from severe burns and were placed in a hospital in Libya. Libya’s Ports Authority issued a follow-up on March 6, saying that with the aid of Italian and Maltese authorities, the hulk had been located. Unlike earlier reports, they said the vessel was still afloat, although listing. They suspected water was leaking into other tanks and confirmed images showed extensive fire damage. They believe the double hull of the vessel had limited the water spread and kept it afloat. Stay on Top of the Daily Maritime News The maritime news that matters most Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily. Subscribe Now // Global validation function (only defined once) if (!window.validateEmailSignupForm) { window.validateEmailSignupForm = function(form) { const input = form.querySelector(‘.email-signup__input’); const email = input.value.trim(); input.classList.remove(‘error’); if (!email || !email.includes(‘@’) || !email.includes(‘.’)) { input.classList.add(‘error’); input.focus(); return false; } return true; }; } // Fetch fresh CSRF token for all forms (only once) if (!window.csrfTokenFetched) { window.csrfTokenFetched = true; fetch(‘/csrf-token’) .then(r => r.json()) .then(data => { document.querySelectorAll(‘.email-signup input[name=”_token”]’).forEach(input => { input.value = data.token; }); }) .catch(() => {}); } // Unique callback for this form instance window.submitEmailSignup_email_signup_69b0abb2adb29 = function(token) { const form = document.getElementById(’email-signup-69b0abb2adb29′); if (window.validateEmailSignupForm(form)) { form.submit(); } }; At that time, they said the hulk was drifting toward Italy and Lampedusa Island, located to the southwest of Malta. The Maltese are saying prevailing winds have, however, redirected the ship toward their territory. Abela told The Times of Malta they were prepared to take “the necessary action” to ensure the safety of Malta. Speculation is that Malta could attempt to tow the hulk or drive it back out to sea. As the owners have likely abandoned the ship, Malta would have to undertake the operation at its expense with little hope of recovery from the owners. It is unclear if the ship had valid insurance.
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ARTICLE LINK: maritime-executive.com
