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Tripoli, 20 March 2014:
There are 25 American personnel on board the oil tanker Morning Glory, which is sailing back to Libya . . .[restrict]under escort of a US warship.
The American sailors are supervising transit and performing security, navigation and communication tasks, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
“The three Libyans who had taken control of the Morning Glory remain now under US control aboard the Morning Glory,” he added.
The 21-person crew are also still on board the vessel. It is not known what will happen to the six Pakistanis – including the Captain – six Indians, three Sri Lankans, two Syrians, two Sudanese and two Eritreans, upon arrival.
An arrest warrant was issued for them by the Attorney General, but some sources said at the time that the crew had been forced to stay in Sidra port by armed men. The Captain’s wife told Reuters that her husband and the crew were held hostage and forced at gunpoint to load oil.
The vessel, which left Libya last week carrying an illicit shipment of crude loaded, is being escorted back by the USS Stout, a guided missile destroyer.
A source in the oil industry said the vessel was expected to dock at a Libyan port on Saturday. It is not known which port it will go to first, but it is expected to unload the stolen crude at Zawia. [/restrict]
