Damietta Port Authority issues a statement regarding the sunken ship XELO
The Damietta Port Authority published a press statement via Facebook account confirming that it was a reference to what was published and circulated by the various media about the sinking of the ship (XELO), which was flying the Guinea flag off the coast of Tunisia, and what the news indicated to him was that it was leaving from the port of Damietta and heading to one of the ports of Malta.
The Damietta Port Authority announced that the aforementioned ship had never been received in the port, and therefore Damietta port was not the departure port for the sinking ship.
The Ministry of Transport calls upon the media to investigate accuracy and honesty in what is published in news related to the Ministry of Transport and to obtain information from its official sources.
The vessel XELO (IMO: 7618272, MMSI 631010034) is a Bunkering Tanker built-in 1977 (45 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Equatorial Guinea. the tanker was Russia-flagged and owned until Jul 2021. and MMSI number is 631010034. Main ship particulars are the length of 58 m and beam of 9 m.
Mention that Bunker tanker XELO issued distress signal on Apr 15, reporting water ingress, flooded engine room, at Gabes Anchorage, Tunisia, Gulf of Gabes. All 7 crew (Azerbaijani, Armenian, Turkish nationalities) were reportedly evacuated. A ship loaded with 750 tons of fuel was en route from Sfax Tunisia to probably, Egypt, according to track, but not to Malta. according to the report of FleeMon
She left Sfax anchorage on Apr 9 heading south, appeared east of Gabes on Apr 14, with missing AIS records between Apr 9-14, but 5 days are hardly enough for s slow-speed old tanker to run from Sfax to Damietta Egypt (1000+ nm), carry out cargo operations and sail back to Tunisia waters (why to Tunisian waters, by the way, if she was bound for Malta?).
The tanker might be still afloat, maybe capsized, AIS is off during the last 25 hours as of 1030 UTC Apr 16
