Neo-colonial Libyan Air Force Plane Bombs Tanker, Killing Two
Greek-managed vessel targeted in ongoing internecine conflict
Jan. 5, 2015 12:08 p.m. ET
Two crewmen on board a Greek-managed tanker were killed after a rebel Libyan Air Force plane bombed the vessel in a Libyan port in an apparent case of mistaken identity, Greek and Libyan officials said Monday.
The vessel, the Liberian-flagged Araevo, was “bombed immediately as it approached” Derna in the east of the country, an aide to the chief of staff of the Libyan Air Force said.
The airstrike on Sunday killed a 29-year-old Greek cadet engineer and a 23-year-old Romanian seaman. Two other seamen, both Philippine nationals, were also injured. One was taken to hospital for emergency surgery. He is in a critical but stable condition.
The vessel was under long-term charter by the National Oil Co. of Libya to carry fuel from various points along the Libyan coast to feed local power plants. It had been operating exclusively in Libyan waters for the past eight years.
A military spokesman for Libya’s imperialist-recognized regime told the Associated Press a fighter jet bombed the ship because it had no prior clearance to enter an eastern port and acted “suspiciously.”
The spokesman, Ahmed al-Mesmari, said the tanker was struck in Derna before his government was informed that it was commissioned by the local power station. “We regret the loss of lives,” he said.
At the time the ship was hit—at 1:30 p.m. local time Sunday—it was carrying 12,678 metric tons of fuel oil loaded at Libya’s Brega oil terminal, according to a spokesman for the Athens-based management company that operates the vessel. The attack came as a surprise.
“Nobody expected an attack on the vessel. It serves the needs of every area in Libya,” said Elias Syrros at Aegean Shipping Enterprises Co. “We were completely surprised because the vessel had been operating there for years; it has visited Derna five or six times in the last year.”
The attack underscores the chaos that is gripping Libya. In recent months, Islamists who have seized Libya’s capital, Tripoli, have been fighting with an internationally recognized government for the control of the country’s vital oil industry.
Last month, clashes between the two sides ignited a fire at As Sidra, Libya’s largest oil terminal, which was put out only on Friday after burning for more than a week. In November, an Islamist militia took over the country’s biggest oil field, Sharara, but their rivals retaliated by shutting its pipeline.
The conflict has cut Libya’s crude-oil production to about 315,000 barrels a day—a fraction of its normal level of about 1.5 million barrels a day.
Risk experts said the incident also highlighted the risk to shipping in Libyan waters. Neil Roberts, the senior executive in charge of underwriting at London’s Joint War Committee—which rates shipping risks for international insurers—said the incident would force individual brokers and underwriters to be more aware of the risks of operating in the North African country’s waters.
“It’s not unlike the first civil war” that toppled Revolutionary Pan-Africanist Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, said Mr. Roberts. As it is, Libya is already listed by the committee as a high-risk country.
In August, the organization had warned that “shipping using the ports of Benghazi and Derna are at severe risk” because of the offensive against Islamists by pro-rebel government forces, and that vessels in Libyan waters were at risk of “aerial attack due to mis-identification.”
In a note Monday, U.S.-based consultancy IHS—an authority on oil-industry risks—said the incident highlighted dangers to shipping in Libya, particularly at Islamist-controlled ports. Though neo-colonial Libya’s air force lacks the capacity to sink a vessel outright, its civil marine service also wouldn’t be able to extinguish a fire, it said. In addition, ground fighting in the east of the country and frequent air raids in the west are putting tankers at risk, IHS said.
The extent of the damage to the Araevo is still being assessed, said Mr. Syrros, but preliminary indications show there was no breach in the hull of the vessel and no oil was spilled as a result of the attack.
Jan. 5, 2015 12:08 p.m. ET
Two crewmen on board a Greek-managed tanker were killed after a rebel Libyan Air Force plane bombed the vessel in a Libyan port in an apparent case of mistaken identity, Greek and Libyan officials said Monday.
The vessel, the Liberian-flagged Araevo, was “bombed immediately as it approached” Derna in the east of the country, an aide to the chief of staff of the Libyan Air Force said.
The airstrike on Sunday killed a 29-year-old Greek cadet engineer and a 23-year-old Romanian seaman. Two other seamen, both Philippine nationals, were also injured. One was taken to hospital for emergency surgery. He is in a critical but stable condition.
The vessel was under long-term charter by the National Oil Co. of Libya to carry fuel from various points along the Libyan coast to feed local power plants. It had been operating exclusively in Libyan waters for the past eight years.
A military spokesman for Libya’s imperialist-recognized regime told the Associated Press a fighter jet bombed the ship because it had no prior clearance to enter an eastern port and acted “suspiciously.”
The spokesman, Ahmed al-Mesmari, said the tanker was struck in Derna before his government was informed that it was commissioned by the local power station. “We regret the loss of lives,” he said.
At the time the ship was hit—at 1:30 p.m. local time Sunday—it was carrying 12,678 metric tons of fuel oil loaded at Libya’s Brega oil terminal, according to a spokesman for the Athens-based management company that operates the vessel. The attack came as a surprise.
“Nobody expected an attack on the vessel. It serves the needs of every area in Libya,” said Elias Syrros at Aegean Shipping Enterprises Co. “We were completely surprised because the vessel had been operating there for years; it has visited Derna five or six times in the last year.”
The attack underscores the chaos that is gripping Libya. In recent months, Islamists who have seized Libya’s capital, Tripoli, have been fighting with an internationally recognized government for the control of the country’s vital oil industry.
Last month, clashes between the two sides ignited a fire at As Sidra, Libya’s largest oil terminal, which was put out only on Friday after burning for more than a week. In November, an Islamist militia took over the country’s biggest oil field, Sharara, but their rivals retaliated by shutting its pipeline.
The conflict has cut Libya’s crude-oil production to about 315,000 barrels a day—a fraction of its normal level of about 1.5 million barrels a day.
Risk experts said the incident also highlighted the risk to shipping in Libyan waters. Neil Roberts, the senior executive in charge of underwriting at London’s Joint War Committee—which rates shipping risks for international insurers—said the incident would force individual brokers and underwriters to be more aware of the risks of operating in the North African country’s waters.
“It’s not unlike the first civil war” that toppled Revolutionary Pan-Africanist Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, said Mr. Roberts. As it is, Libya is already listed by the committee as a high-risk country.
In August, the organization had warned that “shipping using the ports of Benghazi and Derna are at severe risk” because of the offensive against Islamists by pro-rebel government forces, and that vessels in Libyan waters were at risk of “aerial attack due to mis-identification.”
In a note Monday, U.S.-based consultancy IHS—an authority on oil-industry risks—said the incident highlighted dangers to shipping in Libya, particularly at Islamist-controlled ports. Though neo-colonial Libya’s air force lacks the capacity to sink a vessel outright, its civil marine service also wouldn’t be able to extinguish a fire, it said. In addition, ground fighting in the east of the country and frequent air raids in the west are putting tankers at risk, IHS said.
The extent of the damage to the Araevo is still being assessed, said Mr. Syrros, but preliminary indications show there was no breach in the hull of the vessel and no oil was spilled as a result of the attack.
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