Oil Tanker escapes Suez authority and kidnaps Egyptians

The Suez Canal witnessed its first act of piracy when the Turkish Captain of an oil tanker kidnapped 9 Egyptians, the owner's agent and some of the police officers who were on board the ship to carry out a ruling of paying $400,000 arrears due on the ship to the owner's agent in Port Said.

The captain of the ship, which was carrying 44 thousand tons of oil, was kept for 5 days in Suez. He claimed that he should head to Port Said to settle the problem but when he reached Port Said, he increased the speed to its utmost degree and the police security yachts could not get hold of him after he entered the international territorial waters.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry made contacts with the Turkish government to get the Egyptians back and to interrogate the captain. Egyptian sources said that two navy ships followed the tanker but could not approach it, and the sources refuted rumors that the ships shot at the tanker.

The Kidnapped Egyptians contacted their families through the maritime agency and informed them that they will reach Turkish waters within 60 hours and that they were all fine.

The name of the Turkish captain was listed on the Egyptian black list which will make him unable to work on any ship crossing the Suez Canal or to enter the Egyptian territorial waters. A law suit will be filed against the owner of the tanker to pay remuneration and the arrears due to the Egyptian company and the passage fee which is about $75,000.

Meanwhile Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa instructed the Egyptian Ambassador in Turkey Mahdy Youssef to follow up on the situation. It was stated that a memo containing the violations of the Turkish oil tanker was sent to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and also the request to provide the kidnapped Egyptians with protection and to let them call their families directly upon their arrival in Turkey.