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The ship is damaged.
On the night of February 15, two explosions rocked northern Italy, after which damage was discovered on the oil tanker SeaJewel, writes IVGThe ship is currently anchored off the coast of Savona.
It is indicated that the ship has a current below the waterline. However, no oil leak was recorded. According to the Italian publication, the environmental disaster did not occur thanks to the metal sheets in the safety chamber. They did not allow the oil to spill into the sea. No one was injured as a result of the explosion, and the ship is not in danger of sinking.
According to the publication, the crew claims to have heard two loud bangs before the explosions. Two hull sheets bent inward were also found on the ship. This, as noted in the publication, may indicate the presence of two devices located on the outside of the hull.
The Savona Coast Guard is examining the scene with divers from La Spezia to determine the causes and motive. At the moment, investigators have exhausted all possibilities and no one is disclosing any additional information.
During the day, the Port Authority issued a statement reconstructing the incident as follows: “During the unloading of crude oil, the specialized personnel supervising these operations noticed some anomalies in the unloading procedure and decided, in agreement with this port office, to interrupt them as a precaution. The Port Master’s Office immediately implemented the procedures provided for in the port’s pollution control and firefighting plans. No spills or injuries to personnel were reported. Technical investigations are currently underway on board the vessel to verify the origin of these anomalies and to eliminate them so that operations can continue safely.”
The Savona prosecutor's office has opened a case to investigate the incident, and investigators are not ruling out any possibility. Even a terrorist attack is being considered. The Savona prosecutor's office has contacted the Genoa prosecutor's office, which has jurisdiction over the case, as well as the district anti-mafia and anti-terrorism department.
There are three elements that, over time, increasingly support the thesis of a bomb planted behind the keel, writes IVG. The first is the fact that the hole is below the waterline - a detail that suggests an "external cause" rather than a technical malfunction. The second element is related to the configuration of the damage, i.e. the sheets are bent inward. The third and final, important piece of evidence: the death of fish found in the area by divers.
The Seajewel, 245 metres long and 42 metres wide, was built in 2009 and currently flies the Maltese flag. It arrived on Friday 14 February from Algeria. The Euractiv article mentions the Seajewel among the vessels that continue to transport Russian oil to the European Union, despite sanctions related to the war in Ukraine. The same was written by «Ukrainian Pravda».
We will remind you that on the night of February 9 in the Russian seaport of Ust-Luga Explosions erupted on board the tanker, which was transporting fuel oil. As it turned out, the tanker Koala is on the list of the Russian shadow fleet.
