Ghost Ship Washes Up In Liberia Shore Without Any Crew Member: What Happened?

A ghost ship washed up on the west coast of Africa, which is a 63m oil tanker Panama-flagged Tamaya 1 without a single crew. The Liberian government are confused about what happened to the ship and are currently investigating the matter.

The last known position of the vessel was recorded on April 22, 2016 as it left Dakar and headed southward at 0.7 knots towards Senegal, MarineTraffic reported. But on May 4, it was spotted 47 miles west of Monrovia.

Locals as well as the government are curious about the ship that mysteriously washed into the beach, making them wonder about what happened to the crew members.

The Liberia ministry of national defense said that the ship had been "gutted by fire, leaving the bridge (Upper and Control Center) burned along with all documents," FrontPageAfrica reported.

Some speculate that the boat was abandoned due to piracy even if its last known location was north of Gulf of Guinea where active pirate groups are positioned. The ship was bearing a Nigerian flag and was discovered to be vandalized and looted. One lifeboat is missing among the two lifeboats of the ship.

“Our best bet is that the vessel’s owner might have gone broke and had no money to pay crew members ... and therefore, the crew abandoned the ship,” said a port authority insider, according to News.com.au.

Other possible angles of the incident is that the device of the ship was intentionally disabled or it was broken which is why they were not able to electronically transmit their direction, position, and speed, Newser reported.

Although many locals gathered around the vessel due to curiosity, they are kept away from the vessel while the police and the Liberia Maritime Authority (LMA) are still investigating. Details of the incident will be revealed after more facts will be gathered by the senior management of LMA.

Due to the incident, the Liberian government was criticized since it was unaware that a ship was abandoned on the sea not until it was washed ashore. It even made people doubt about the safety and security in the waters of Liberia.

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Liberia