On the night of April 15 to April 15, Tunisian authorities detained seven crew members saved from the victim of the Xelo merchant vessel. Among the arrested – two citizens of Azerbaijan.
According to foreign media, the reason was the identification of suspicious facts confirming the intentional flooding of the ship.
built in 1977 and made flights under the flag of equatorial Guinea, the 58-meter ship Xelo set sail in March from the banks of the equatorial Guinea, made a short stop in one of the ports of Egypt, after which he headed for Malta.
When the ship reached the shores of the Tunisian city of Gabes, the crew gave the SOS signal. The Tunisa Navy saved seven crew members – four Turks, two Azerbaijanis and one citizen of Georgia.
from a sinking ship.
The fact that the ship, according to crew members, transports more than a thousand tons of raw oil, caused the serious concern of the Tunisian government and international environmental organizations. Oil spill from a sinking ship could cause a serious environmental disaster.
Tunisia Government began preparing for pumping oil with XELO before it dragged into the sea, however, due to adverse weather conditions, they could not carry out this operation at once. Divers in difficult weather conditions fell to the bottom of the sea, tied special cables to the ship and prepared for a complex operation – towing the vessel on the shore along with the cargo of raw oil.
“We are waiting for the weather to improve, wind and excitement will subside so that divers can check the condition of the body and cargo and take the necessary measures,” said Tunisia Minister of Environment Leila Chikhaui in a television interview.
A few days later the weather finally allowed the divers to inspect the ship. What was their surprise when it turned out that in reality the ship was empty and there was no oil in its tanks.
As a result, there was a suspicion that the ship was flooded intentionally to receive payment from the insurance company.
according to another version, crew members were engaged in smuggling oil.
Based on these suspicions, Tunisia law enforcement agencies appealed to the City Court of Gabos, which applied a preventive measure in the form of detention to all crew members. This was stated by the official representative of the court Mohammad Karai, who noted that the investigation was currently being conducted to determine whether the ship was sank as a result of a storm or was intentionally flooded to receive payment from an insurance company.
The version of oil smuggling is also investigated.
The crew’s members said that the ship’s ship documents were lost, however, according to the judge, there are inconsistencies in their testimony.