Free from pirates, MV Suez runs out of fuel

Tug boat dispatched to bring the ship into port.


Express June 18, 2011

KARACHI: Human Rights activist Ansar Burney announced on Saturday that although technical faults in the MV Suez ship released by Somali pirates had been fixed, the ship had run out of fuel.

Speaking to Express 24/7, Burney said that if fuel is not supplied to MV Suez in the next 24 hours, all of its crew will have to be rescued. The Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul-Ebad was informed about the predicament as well as the rescue of the MV Suez.

Pakistani Naval Ship, PNS Babur, is escorting the MV Suez, while a helicopter is watching over it. The Governor was told that nine naval commandos are also on board the MV Suez to guard the released sailors and that food and medicines are also being provided to them.

On Friday, Islamabad accused an Indian Navy warship of hampering the humanitarian operation being carried out by the Pakistan Navy to rescue an MV Suez that was released by Somali pirates this week.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office said Pakistan lodged a protest with the India government on an incident that occurred on June 16 when an Indian Navy Ship Godavari not only hampered the humanitarian operations being carried out by Pakistan Navy ShipBabur, but also undertook dangerous manoeuvres during the course of the incident.

Tug boat to bring Mv Suez to port

The Egyptian owner of the merchant vessel, Suez has made arrangements to send out a tug boat, Hisak, to bring the out of fuel ship to port.

Suez, which had earlier developed a fault in one of its boilers in the engine room had manged to overcome the problem, however it did not have enough fuel to make port at Salalah in Oman.

The tug boat will be able to make contact with the ship later in the night and begin towing it towards land on Sunday morning.

A Pakistan navy spokesperson said that PNS Babar, which is escorting MV Suez, was ready to take the estranged crew on board and transport them to shore. However, the crew had expressed their desire to stay with the ship till it makes port.

COMMENTS (41)

jaffer sheriff | 12 years ago | Reply Dear Pakistani brothers; Do not waste time, start collecting funds to pay for the next piracy. Thousands of Pakistanis are working in different merchant ships of different nations. Even some of them adopted the nationality of other countries. Will the taxpayers of this poor country have to pay ransom money for release of foreign ships and their crew while the profits go the shipping companies. The Pakistan government should send the bill to the shipping company demanding reimbursement of ransom money.
Yasser | 12 years ago | Reply First of all, PNS Babur is a type 21 frigate purchased by Pakistan from Royal Navy. You can have details from the below mentioned link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNSBabur(D182) Secondly and most importantly, the reality is (even as per Indian media), the 18 crew members of Egyptian merchant vessel MV Suez, including six Indians, have now been moved to the Pakistan Navy's PNS Babur after they had to abandon ship after their fuel ran out and a tug boat failed to reach them due to bad weather. MV Suez was on its way to the Omani port of Salalah when it ran out of fuel and began taking on water in stormy weather. On getting a call for assistance, Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Noman Bashir ordered the vessel's crew to be shifted to the frigate PNS Babur, which was escorting it. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indian-crew-of-mv-suez-may-reach-home-in-3-days/160854-3.html http://www.dnaindia.com/world/reportindian-sailors-will-return-home-after-reaching-pakistan-ansar-burney1556997 http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/shipping-/-transport/mv-suez-crew-shifted-to-pakistani-warship-pns-babar/articleshow/8914822.cms http://www.timesnow.tv/MV-Suez-crew-shifted-to-PNS-Babar/articleshow/4376381.cms
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