Iran oil supertanker sails off Gibraltar with Indian crew

An Iranian oil supertanker released from detention by Gibraltar last week has set sail with its crew, majority of them Indians, on board soon after the local authorities said that they were unable to seek a court order to detain the vessel on a US warrant.

Grace 1, which had been detained in the semi-autonomous British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar on the Spanish coast early last month, was renamed the Adrain Darya based on the Persian word for sea and rebranded under an Iranian flag.

According to the Marine Traffic monitoring website, the supertanker lifted anchor on Sunday evening before 2300 GMT and the vessel was tracked moving east into the Mediterranean and listed Kalamata in Greece as its destination.

The crew on board the vessel includes majority Indians but also Russians, Latvians and Filipinos, who spent over a month in detention on board the ship since it was seized on July 4.

The Indian captain and three other senior officers aboard were arrested before being bailed on suspicion of a breach of the EU sanctions. They were released of all charges last week, with the captain expressing relief and gratitude.

Earlier on August 15, V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs & Parliamentary Affairs, tweeted "All 24 Indian crew aboard VLCC Grace 1 have been released by Gibraltar authorities and are free to return to India."