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Africa Horn

Iranian tanker escapes Somali pirates

2009-11-23

[Iran Press TV Latest] An Iranian oil tanker has escaped an attack by pirates in Bab al-Mandeb in waters north of Somalia, a media report has revealed.

According to Mehr News Agency, Iran Nesa, an oil tanker which belonged to the Iranian Oil Tanker Company, was attacked on Sunday in the waters of Bab al-Mandeb -- a strategic strait which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

The tanker was en route to Turkey, carrying two billion barrels of crude oil when it was attacked by two pirate boats.

The Iranian tanker managed to flee the pirates after one of their boats sank.

Ahem, there's a lack of details here: how did the pirate boat sink?

According to Mehr, 13 Iranian oil tankers have been attacked by pirates in the last two years. None of the attacks has led to the capture of the Iranian tankers, the report added.

According to Iranian military sources, the country's navy has dispatched four fleets of warships to fight pirates off the Somali coast.

Posted by:Fred

#8 Hadji don't surf....

Posted by: abu do you love 2009-11-23 21:43

#7 Iranian tanker - Somali pirates

Red on red.

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-11-23 20:08

#6 Surf's up!

Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-11-23 19:29

#5 Ahem, there's a lack of details here: how did the pirate boat sink?

IIUC, large (huge) boats like a tanker actually can be very fast; the evasive protocol involves getting as fast as possible & zig-zaging, the trail of waves made by such a large boat can make navigation very difficult for the smaller pirate boats and even over-turn them.
Unless there was an exchange for fire and the pirates got it through an automatic GL or something, I think it sinked due to this evasive manoeuvering (as is the goal, really).

Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-11-23 11:33

#4 They mean million. A supertanker can hold up to 500,000 Dead Weight Tons (2 million barrels). These are the largest of the tankers. Most hold half that.

Posted by: DarthVader 2009-11-23 10:53

#3 two billion barrels?
Criminey that's one BIG ship.
I think that's a typo error.
A barrel holds 45 gallons or approximately 6 cubic feet of oil. two billion barrels is about twelve billion cubic feet of ship storage...did they make a boat out of that monstrosity that the UAE is building (world's tallest building) or what?
One of the twin towers was only 4.4 billion cubic feet.

Posted by: Karl Rove 2009-11-23 10:45

#2 Two billion barrels of oil! Let me see that is 2 B times $70 = $140B. Wow!! Someone is making money. And that is one tanker.

Posted by: Art 2009-11-23 09:36

#1 Ahem, there's a lack of details here: how did the pirate boat sink?

Deferred maintenance. Lots of that in the Iranian military. Look at their aircraft safety record.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-11-23 07:40

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