Tunisia-After the sinking of “Xelo”: Equatorial Guinea suspends the activity of 395 vessels flying its flag

The Vice President of Equatorial Guinea declared that 395 vessels flying the flag of his country illegally, have been halted today, Thursday, April 21, 2022, and this comes 5 days after the sinking of the ship Xelo in the Gulf of Gabes, which was loaded with 750 tons of diesel. “There are over 300 ships around the globe illegally operating under our flag,” Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mango said in a tweet. We have created a mechanism to solve this issue and avoid it in the future. The flag of Equatorial Guinea cannot be a face of international fraud”.

The official said he totally declines issuing permits to owners of “suspicious” vessels, adding that no passes will be issued until the status of the sunken vessel Xelo is clarified. It should be cited that the shipwrecked freighter, which is 58 meters long, belongs to a Turkish-Libyan company, flying the flag of Equatorial Guinea, and its construction dates back to 1977 The crew of the freighter, which contains 7 people of different nationalities (a Georgian captain, four Turks and two Azerbaijanis), was saved.