A tanker under UK sanctions, identified as Myra, issued an Inmarsat-C distress alert on Saturday, October 24, while sailing through severe weather in the North Atlantic, hundreds of miles west of the Outer Hebrides.
Emergency Response Underway
According to The Press and Journal, RAF Lossiemouth and Aberdeen Coastguard are involved in the response. A local Coastguard official confirmed that an operation was under way, the newspaper reported.
Maritime tracking website Vesseltracker placed the vessel around 270 to 290 nautical miles west of Northern Ireland and the Outer Hebrides at the time of the alert.
Severe Weather Conditions
The tanker was reportedly facing waves reaching 8.8 metres, almost 29 feet, and wind gusts of up to 70 knots, equivalent to around 80 mph. Despite the conditions, it was said to be continuing to travel at around nine knots.
Vesseltracker reported that nearby ships capable of providing assistance had been asked to contact the UK Coastguard.
Vessel Background and Sanctions
Robert Macleod, owner of Glasgow-based Ocean Risk Management, has been monitoring the vessel using specialist satellite-tracking technology. He identified Myra as the tanker involved and told The Press and Journal that the information available to him suggested the vessel was experiencing difficulties.
Myra is an oil products tanker reported to have sailed from Ust-Luga, a Russian port on the Baltic Sea, towards Port Said in Egypt. The vessel is subject to UK sanctions, with the UK government's designation citing reasonable grounds to suspect it has been involved in transporting Russian-origin oil or oil products from Russia to a third country.
The tanker was previously reported by Vesseltracker to have attracted the attention of German Federal Police in the Baltic Sea after its reported flag changed from Madagascar to Cameroon. No inspection took place because the vessel was outside German territorial waters, the report said.
The cause of the reported distress alert and the condition of the crew have not been independently confirmed.
