A Turkish-owned oil tanker that was damaged near Senegal’s coast last week was hit by four external explosions but there were no injuries or pollution, its manager said on Monday.
The vessel, Mersin, was at anchor near Dakar when the four explosions occurred at 23:45 GMT on November 27, resulting in seawater entering the engine room, Istanbul-based Besiktas Shipping said in a written statement.
The cause of the explosions was not clear.
"The situation was immediately brought under control, and we confirm that all crew members are safe; there are no injuries, no loss of life, and no pollution," the Besiktas Shipping statement said of the Mersin’s situation. "The vessel remains safe and stable, and it poses no navigational or safety risks to its surroundings," it added.
On November 28, the day after the blasts aboard the Mersin in the Atlantic, Ukrainian naval drones hit two sanctioned tankers in the Black Sea, near Turkey’s coast, as they headed to a Russian port to load oil, an official said on Saturday. Kyiv is trying to pile pressure on Russia’s vast oil industry.
Though the Panamanian-flagged Mersin has also been involved in shipping Russian oil, according to shipping data firm Kpler, there was no indication of any Ukrainian connection. Besiktas Group is the registered owner of the tanker, according to shipping database Equasis.
The incident, which had led to the vessel issuing a distress signal, prompted the deployment of tugboats and specialised teams from Senegal’s navy and maritime authority as they sought to prevent a potential oil spill.
Besiktas Shipping said it was working in full cooperation with the insurers and Senegalese authorities, managing the consequences of the incident and supporting the technical and forensic investigations.
(Reporting by Can Sezer and Enes Tunagur; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Alex Richardson)