Seized British tanker docks in Dubai
Dubai: Stena Impero, a British-flagged oil tanker, which left Iran after more than two months in custody, has docked in Dubai, media reports said on Sunday.
The Stena Impero, which sailed out of Iranian waters on Friday, was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz on July 19, shortly after British forces detained an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar.
The Iranian ship was released in August.
Erik Hanell, the Chief Executive of Sweden’s Stena Bulk, which owns the ship, said on Saturday: “Finally approaching berth in Dubai right now,” The Daily Mail reported.
Stena Bulk said that the 16 crew members — 13 Indians, two Russians, one Filipino – would receive medical checks and be debriefed in Dubai before returning to their respective home countries.
“The crew are in high spirits, understandably. They will be checked by medical professionals once ashore, but the captain has informed us all are in good health,” The Daily Mail quoted a Stena Bulk spokesman as saying before the ship docked in Dubai.
Earlier this month, Iran released seven “non-essential” members of the Stena Impero’s original 23-strong crew on humanitarian grounds, the BBC reported.