(July 10 2009)
A leading militant group in the Niger Delta has attacked a Chevron oil facility and hijacked some of the crew of a chemical vessel.
The Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta (MEND) issued a press statement saying that for disregarding their warning to oil, gas and chemical tankers to keep away from the Niger Delta waters, six crew members from the chemical tanker ‘Sichem Peace’ were seized about 20 nautical miles from Escravos on 5th July.
MEND’s statement said that the captives will be held until further notice. The six crew members included three Russians (master, chief engineer and 2nd engineer), an Indian cadet and two Philippino seafarers.
The movement said that this was meant to serve as a warning to others that there are root issues that have to be resolved with the Nigerian government before normality can resume.
This news came hard on the heels of a statement released earlier the same day about another Chervon facility being attacked by MEND.
According to the statement, the strategic Okan manifold, which controls about 80% Chevron Nigeria’s offshore crude oil to its BOP crude loading platform was blown up at about 8.45 pm on the same day.
MEND also said that the next tanker that they will intercept will not be this lucky, as it will be set on fire after the crew had been evacuated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment