Attack on Greek-owned tanker off the coast of Libya / Two crew members killed, two injured as vessel struck in attack in east Libyan port

A warplane has bombed a Greek oil tanker in the port of  Darnah, eastern Libya, killing two crew members, Greek authorities have said.

The Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it condemned the air attack against the Araevo tanker a day earlier, which left a Greek and a Romanian dead out of 26 crew members and two other people injured.

The ministry said it was in contact with Libyan authorities, UN special envoy for Libya Bernadino Leon and the High Representative of the European Union for the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini regarding the attack and would investigate it.

A Libyan military spokesman told the BBC the attack was carried out by the Libyan air force after the ship's movements aroused suspicion.

Oil-rich Libya has been dogged by political instability since the 2011 ouster and death of leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A group of militants in the eastern city of Darnah has reportedly sworn allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group as fighting rages across Libya.
www.aa.com.tr/en
 5/1/15
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• Attack on Greek-owned tanker off the coast of Libya ...

Hellenic MFA, Monday, 05 January 2015
"Greece condemns in the strongest manner the unprovoked and cowardly air attack carried out on the Greek-owned tanker “Araevo” at 13:30 on 4 January 2015, as it lay at anchor 2 miles from the port of Derna (eastern Libya).

According to information from the company that owns the Araevo, the vessel was under lease to Libya’s state-owned “National Oil Corportation” (NOC) and for a number of years traveled between the Libyan ports of Marsa al-Brega and Derna without any problems.

This criminal act resulted in the deaths of two crew members – one Greek and one Romanian – and left two other crew members injured.

The competent Greek authorities, in coordination with the company that owns the ship, are doing everything humanly possible to facilitate the immediate repatriation of the Greek seaman’s remains.

The Greek government will proceed to all of the necessary representations to the Libyan authorities – in spite of the volatility of the prevailing situation – to make possible the clarification of the conditions under which the tragic incident occurred, the identification and punishment of the perpetrators of the attack, and the payment of compensation to the families of the victims.

To this end, the Greek government is already in contact with the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Libya, Bernadino Leon, and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini."
[mfa.gr]
5/1/15
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